The Capitol's Call
by wisegirlindisguise
Summary: The Capitol calls the family of heroes in, and while there seems to be praise something unspeakable is going on behind the scenes. What can the couple do about a rumor that is choking their family? When it takes their kids from them they'll do anything.
1. Chapter 1

**I usually lurk in a different book world on this site, but I have fallen for the Hunger Games and I'm afraid my addiction to fanfiction has just been reignited. Enjoy!**

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><p>She races the halls. She had to get to his classroom. She had to pull him out before everything got away from her. She had to protect him. She knows this. Her mother taught her this. Family always comes first. Why does she have to save him though? No one understands.<p>

There are no sirens. Actually, the halls are empty. She's the only one in frenzy, but she has good reason. She slides to a stop in front of the room that leads to his classroom. She throws it open and glides in. The teacher sighs as if she already knows why she's there. She nods to a boy at the front of the class room. His curly head stands and he turns to his sister as the emblem lights the screen.

"Let's go Gavin," she snaps feeling completely out of control. Why? She's perfectly fine. There's no threat. It's just school there's nothing even really going on. But she has to get him out. He can't see this anything that has to do with the Capitol, the old Capitol.

"Primrose—,"

"Gavin go," she points a shaking finger toward the door and Gavin gathers his things before leaving the class with his head down. When a kid snickers it only takes a stab with Primrose's eyes to shut him up. Then Primrose turns and follows out her brother slamming the door to the room to rattle every kid inside. Her satchel digs into her shoulder with its weight, but she ignores it as she speeds past Gavin in the hall. He shoulders his pack a little better and hurries after her. "I'm getting you home and then you're staying home for the next couple days."

"Primrose why?" Gavin asks confused. He struggles to keep up his feet kicking up rubble from the reconstruction of the school after the revolution. It's still not finished really, but no one seems to care. They work as little as they can get away with while keeping the school open and keeping their paychecks. The parents don't care either. It's better than what they ever got. This was how Primrose and Gavin got used to school, so they don't care either. They don't know anything different.

"Gavin, let's just go," Primrose pushes open the front door to the school. The ladies don't even stop her. Their position in town is too high for really anybody to have any say. Not mayor, no their father refused that position when he became eligible, so did their mother. Her parents are more legends than anything. Sometimes, it's annoying, but other times it gets her everything she wants and Primrose takes it to her advantage willingly.

Gavin doesn't understand it at all. He remembers from class the teacher talking about these things called Hunger Games. The teacher always had looked at him when she talked about them waiting for him to have a reaction. _Games? Like the ones my mom always says we are playing out at that little house in the woods. _Those are the only games he has ever known. So he just follows his sister.

He's sure of one thing. Gavin has inherited his father's sporadic outbursts and his mother's worry. If worry could smother Gavin wouldn't have made it to the age he was at. Primrose is the only thing he will call her and he knows she prefers it that way. Her friends always called her rose and she didn't mind that but when her friends said it around their mom she would shudder and their father would tell them that the nickname was not acceptable. They acted like it was a terrible word that got their mouths washed out with soap. Their mother called her Prim, but that seemed to upset their mother in a whole different way. She got this deep sadness that swirled around her sucking everyone in and then smiled through it no matter what. Primrose has three personalities though and Gavin knows them all. She's tough around guys and her friends. Around Gavin she's protective to a serious extent. Around her parents she was the perfect child even though they punished her for nothing really to keep her in line. Gavin is ignored for now.

Right now, looking at his sister's bobbing dark hair as she pushes through the snow, she's in Gavin mode. A "neighborhood" dog walks up to her side and she lays her hand on it's scruff since it's so tall. That dog was Primrose's and Gavin was fully aware though their parents wouldn't allow any pets inside. The dog is large and its ears stand tall. In the warmer month he always was good to blend in because he was made of black and tan fur that lays slick against its body unless Primrose is trouble. When that happens, you hope you're not around. The only time their mother ignores the dog is when they are outside of the fence where the dog can be considered wild.

Gavin slides his hands into the pockets of his jacket and pulls his shoulders up to try and cover his ears with the collar of his jacket. Their house is so far away from everything, and they're the only ones who live there. It's a nice house, one of the nicest really, but there's a certain hatred his mother has for it. Their father acts indifferent except for in the summer when they go to the meadow to play. Then he gets this dark expression until their mother forces him to hold her; that's the only time he relaxes in the meadow.

Primrose turns sharply to Gavin and he freezes in his tracks dropping his shoulders in shock for a moment. "They can't do this, not to you," she says and the tears that fill her eyes make her look just like their mother except for her blue eyes that pierce him like the icicles that hang from the rooftops. It scares Gavin. He doesn't want to be sad like his family. He wants to have hope. _Why are they sad anyway? _He wonders everyday. They're important. The people that are only a few years younger than his parents practically bow at their feet. They rule all and could care less always stuck in a sadness that goes on forever.

Gavin says nothing and ducks back into his jacket like a small turtle in a massive shell. He protects himself from the cold and his sister's tears. He will not be sad. He walks past her and up the walkway to his home. The warmth rolls out in a massive ways smacking against him, but he walks against it and shuts the snow out with his sister still outside. The house smells of bread and fresh rolls. There's laughter in the kitchen and for a moments Gavin's heart soars. He loves to hear that sound.

His mother's happiness. It's so rare really he's not sure how to take it, but he doesn't have time to take all of it in. Primrose walks in behind him and heads straight into the kitchen without even kicking the snow from her boots on the tile. Gavin hears her voice say a few sentences; it's not even a conversation his mother walks into the room he's in.

"Hi Mommy," Gavin smiles and hugs his mom. _I'm okay! _He screams with the embrace trying to help her calm down. Primrose is the one that is overreacting. All they were going to do was watch a history video. They were going to finally watch these Games that everyone is always talking about. Even some kids his age rumor about how dangerous they were and how they still happened behind his parents knowing.

They were games! Gavin doesn't know; he doesn't listen in class, especially not history. The past is what haunts his family. He refuses to learn about it. These games though, that's what he is interested in. It has to do with him, or his father maybe. Maybe that's why their father has a false leg and in turn their mother is sad. He just wants answers; answers his sister has kept once again, he thinks he'll never get them. Their mother only hopes that's true.

"I want to learn about it Mom," Gavin finally says and then clamps his hand over his mouth. This isn't right. He should have never asked his mother. She can tell by the look on his father's face and the glare that Primrose is giving him. This isn't his place. His mother already has nightmares. How could he do this to her? What kind of son was he?

"We'll go out to the lake tomorrow, and I'll tell you." She's not even upset. It shocks everyone because all she does is kiss her son's forehead and sends him upstairs. No, he won't be going to school for days maybe not even weeks. Gavin knows it too, but he doesn't fight against it. Whatever he gets to hear tomorrow is huge. He'll sleep through the rest of the day just so he can get up early with his mother and father tomorrow. Primrose is going back to school and she's got tears in her eyes because of it. Their father wraps her in his arms and she lets him hold her as they watch Gavin and his mother go upstairs.

Katniss kisses her son's forehead. She shoves the fear to the back of her mind. She knows the toll she is on Gavin. When she's supposed to be the strong one her eight year-old son ends up taking the role. "Goodnight Gavin."

"It's only afternoon Mommy," Gavin points out with a gleam in his eyes.

It makes Katniss smile for some reason. "You're very right Baby. Good afternoon." She moves about the room drawing curtains and closing the windows tightly. The snow helps, but the rest of the sunlight is soon gone. She has to tell Gavin tomorrow though. She has to open those curtains. She has to shed light on all the things she wished she could forget.

Katniss leaves the room tugs the door closed. The breath she takes is nothing. It swirls inside of her with promises of relief. It lies though. In moments it returns to the world as a personal poison and dies around her in the oxygen. She blinks back the tears at a phantom pain in her head. Specifically, she can almost feel the explosion from the first games that left her deaf in one ear. There's no proof of that ever happening. Only the second games linger on her skin. The games that were never really finished haunt her.

Peeta is proof that the Games were never completed. They are both proof of the last Games. Primrose knows about their participation in those vile acts of putting people in line. When everything they did should have protected them for life they were thrown back into terror. Now it's under her skin. Katniss can't even fight it off or kill it; it simply drags across every nerve she has. It wakes her up at night in fits of screaming and sweating and crying, but that only happens when Peeta has left their bed. He always wanders away and she wonders why, but she doesn't act. It's his way of coping, constant motion. That's as far as her guess goes.

Katniss steels herself and then walks back down to the first floor where Peeta is giving Primrose biscuits for her to eat. They are the cheese biscuits that Katniss loves so much. She smiles at her husband and he smiles back in a practice of sharing emotions. _I'm okay right now, _it reads. Their quiet conversations are never caught.

"You should head back to school Prim," the nickname stirs something inside of her, but she holds it back. It's the correct name for their daughter. The nickname came with it. When people called her Rose it drove Katniss absolutely mad. Who are they to name her daughter for that wicked man? No one should ever be cursed with the name that scars history. It's automatic shame. Most of the adults in the district know that. Why don't they warn their children?

"Yes ma'am. I'm just eating something before I go, by now they've probably paused the Games for lunch," Primrose doesn't look up from her biscuit. The cheese seems to interest her. It's almost as if she's trying to decide which spots bubbles during its baking. "I don't want Gavin to know," she suddenly says and looks up at her father before she looks to Katniss. "There's no recovering from what he'll see. He'll recognize you guys especially once the interviews happen. They'll have your name everywhere."

Girl on Fire, that name was so fitting and it made her skin tingle. She shakes it off closes her eyes for what seems like a dramatic blink. "Which Games is it?" Katniss manages the question in a calm voice. She can't destroy the happiness Peeta had managed to stir in the house. Even with talk of the Games. Why did it seem like the Reapings all over again? It's not though. She doesn't have to go anywhere, and neither does her daughter. They are safe.

"The first one you guys were in…this year is all about the beginning of revolution." Their curriculum was group scheduled for the years. They all learned the same things. They teachers just had to teach it at the understanding level needed. It made spreading the required education easier, plus, everyone stayed on the same page for the year and then they are all given the same test. "We'll start revolution and probably see the other games next years. With winter already here there is no way they'll get to it. Summer vacation is coming up too soon."

Katniss lifts the corner of her mouth with the strings of a lie. "At least you'll finally get to see it for yourself. Our description is only so much." To have them still watch the Games disgusts Katniss. Keeping the children aware is good. That way they'll never do it again. When was it okay to start showing children the sight of kids killing kids? Never. It was never going to be okay.

"Sure Mom," her daughter drops the roll and grabs her satchel. When the door opens that dog is sitting out there. She slams the door behind her. Katniss listens to her feet hitting the steps and the creaks they make and then her footsteps are lost in the snow. Katniss turns to Peeta who offers her one of the cheese biscuits he has made. They're still hot from the oven and if you left them on their sides to long the cheese would shift in its top.

"She'll be fine," Katniss mutters taking a seat at the counter pulling off pieces of the roll letting some of the steam roll out. Peeta sets everything his has down and moves around the corner to his wife. Taking hold of the swivel chair's arms he spins her around to face him. She looks up at him with this fear that does nothing to him. He knows how to handle her fear. It was almost normal to him. They had fallen in love through fear; therefore, fear was no stranger. "She'll be fine, right?"

"Katniss she's just like you if she couldn't handle herself you would have kept her home," Peeta assures her. He takes one of his hands off the arm rest he had hold of and moved the hair from Katniss' face. She never seems to take her hair out of the braid. Even now, the braid seems to hold on by a thread because of how loose it is.

With a careful and cautious hand, he pulls the rubber band from her hair. As it falls to the ground Katniss' eyes soften. Peeta runs his fingers through her hair and it let's go of its form like Peeta wished Katniss would. Maybe one day she could just let go and then he would have Katniss back. His Katniss had died with her sister's death and had been severed with her mother's retreat form her. Peeta wants to bring her back, so for the moment all he can think to do is press his lips to hers.

The warmth of him ignites her. He spends so much time in the kitchen with an oven that runs on fire that he seems to run on is as well. The heat thrills her and she kisses him back. It's comfortable. It's not forceful or desperate prove itself. Peeta has her wholeheartedly and all he has to do is love her, and he does that just fine.

Katniss feels like she must prove herself though. There was no way she had ever deserved him. He was the one who was level headed, and when she asked why he would stay with her when has nothing to offer he jokes about having a life debt to her. She saved him and now he's obligated to stick around. Katniss hopes that's really only a joke. She needs him. She deserves someone like Gale, but he abandoned her long ago and leaves her messages on their phone.

When their phone does ring they let it ring. Katniss remembers a time when she would have answered because it would have been Cinna. She would jump like a giddy child if it had been Cinna, her friend. But now, it's only Gale, her traitorous friend. Katniss convinces herself that he calls to brag and it's not worth it. Gale was never one to apologize. When Katniss suggested Peeta rip the phone from the wall he countered with the fact that when it rang it only meant Katniss was being missed. She liked the idea of being needed, and even though Peeta says Gavin and Primrose need her, she doubts it. Peeta would be more than capable of holding onto their children. She's not actually needed anywhere anymore.

Within their kiss, Peeta has managed to get Katniss on the counter where she let him ravage her neck. But after a few moments Katniss stops him. Gavin is in the house and they are not children anymore. They're parents. "I love you," Katniss whispers wholeheartedly tangling her fingers in Peeta's hair. He loves when he looks this way. It's the only time she can ever see the wild in his eyes that he wears so well. When they kiss with passion he lets go of being a baker. With the passion comes instinct, and his instinct is to hold her and protect her from everything. Even her sadness fears his love and backs away form her mind.

"I love you too," Peeta sighs and then the instinct is gone. The wild still shines in his eyes, but he has his control again. Even though his hands are on her thighs he can tell she's not think of anything close to the passion of the moment he had been in. She was stuck on Gavin and what they were going to tell him. "We're leaving before sunrise tomorrow aren't we? Just like a hunting day?"

The all knowing of his mind makes Katniss smile and she leans back grabbing a cheese biscuit. She takes a bite and then seems to consider her answer. She looks at the biscuit and then the ceiling. When she looked back to Peeta she's looking at his impatience. "Yes, we're going hunting tomorrow, telling our son the story of the Games, and we're taking you and your noisy feet."

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><p><strong>Sincerely,<strong>

**wisegirlindisguise**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey y'all. Hope you enjoyed the first chapter. This one is short yes, but it's mostly to start setting up this plot, so bare with me. I'm trying to recall certain detail to basically stitch this story into the Hunger Games series which I will never be able to do because they're so completely fantastic. Enjoy. **

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><p>Katniss sunk into their largest couch in the living room. It enclosed her in warmth and held her tightly while she nursed a large cup of coffee. Coffee… She always takes a moment to thank Finnick for the addiction she has now attained. Peeta has learned to leave her alone until the first cup is gone. By the time she comes in for her second cup he's waiting in there with a large glass of orange juice. They share their drinks for the morning after that with Katniss under his arm leaning into him. But now she's alone.<p>

The clock ticked in front of her the second hand taunting her with how fast the time was passing. As it ticked the time got closer and closer to the point where her son would be up and they would head to the woods. She wishes she could freeze time. Katniss just wanted her son to stay in bed all day. But, she knew he wouldn't. Gavin was a lot like Katniss and therefore an early riser.

As Peeta walks in when she drains her first mug he hands her a second. She thanked him wholeheartedly for keeping the warmth in her palms alive. As soon as he sat down, Katniss even crawled into his lap like a small child. He doesn't even have his orange juice which means he doesn't think they'll have time for it. The two of them are both dressed but they aren't into it.

As soon as they do make it to the woods they'll snap out of it, so Gavin hopes as he watches from the stairs. Katniss is whispering soft words to Peeta about a man that Gavin doesn't know, and though she smiles Gavin can tell she is sad. The name he catches is Finnick and Gavin suddenly starts to make a connection. He was a victor. Gavin knew that much. They had discussed part of the past Victors last year for certain subjects. Finnick popped up a lot as an obvious favorite.

"Hey Gavin," Primrose started down the stairs and Gavin turned shooting her a glare. His parents didn't know he was sitting there yet. If she just kept her trap shut he could hide there to hear about Finnick O'dair. "Whoa 'tude check little man. Move so I can get down the stairs."

"Gavin," he curses his sister silently. Peeta has just called him into the living room. He was now busted. As he stood he purposefully shoves his sister with his shoulder. He then jumped down the stairs two at a time and walked into the living room next to the fireplace where there was extra warmth. "Are you ready to go?" Peeta asked calmly as if he didn't care that he had been eaves dropping. Katniss was curled up in Peeta's lap.

"Yes Sir," Gavin nodded eagerly. "Can we go?" He asked bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet. Primrose passed behind the couch whispering goodbye to Katniss and Peeta before giving Gavin a long sad look that dropped his spirits terribly.

"Yes, we can. As soon as I put my hair up," Katniss said rising to her feet. She handed the rest of her coffee to Peeta who drank it carefully once she had disappeared. Gavin decided that his mom was still thinking of this Finnick, guy whoever he really was. It added to his list of questions that he would soon be able to ask.

Katniss was in the bathroom tightening her braid. The silence of the bathroom swirled around her desperately trying to choke her. When she finished with her braid she tied it into place before putting her hands on the side of the sink. She stared at herself in the reflection. "Katniss," she turned around to see Peeta in the doorway holding her father's jacket. Carefully, she took it from his arms and slipped into it carefully. "Everything is going to be fine."

"What if he doesn't think of us the same way as he has?" Katniss whispered as Peeta encased her in his arms. The vice of protection seemed to breathe warmth into her bones. His blue eyes dug into her as she watched him carefully. "Once he sees all that I've done to people..." Katniss was the only one who had to worry about losing her children's love. Peeta had never killed anyone in the games. He had only ever been a victim.

"They will love you for the entire lives because you are their mother. They will understand why it all happened just like we had to understand about Haymitch. We never blamed Haymitch for everything he did." Peeta said kissing her forehead. Katniss closed her eyes pretending that for a moment she believed that she had never hated Haymitch. Now, of course, Haymitch was no longer around. The amount of drinks he had one night was too much and so it left every house in Victor's Village vacant except for the house Peeta and Katniss lived in. "Let's go..." Peeta muttered and then led Katniss out of the door and into the living room where the gathered Gavin and their things before heading out to the woods.

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><p>At the school Primrose was cringing in the back of the room. The small TV set seemed to be screaming at her showing all the pictures of her father as he lay dying under the protection of perfectly drawn camouflage. She was never meant to see this. Flashes of her mother running around with a girl named Rue shock her. Her mother should be with Peeta! Katniss should be out looking for Peeta!<p>

The school stopped the feed for the day. Primrose sunk into her chair as the final bell rang. With everyone rushing around to leave she just sat there. Her teacher watched her worriedly, but as soon as she started to walk over Primrose gathered her things and hustled out. As soon as her feet touched the snow the stray she loved walked up. "Hey Willow," Primrose squatted down rubbing the German Shepherd's head between its ears. "If my parents are still out I can get you inside for a while. You can warm up." Willow tail started to wag and he spun around happily. "Let's go then," Primrose tightened the straps on her boots and then took off with Willow at her side.

Primrose froze outside of her house looking at the lit kitchen window. The people inside were not her parents. Her parents weren't even home. "Willow, stay close." She wasn't going in there alone not with intruders in the house. She went to the front porch where she pulled up a loose board and grabbed a bow and arrow that her mom had hidden. Peeta thought it was ridiculous, but Primrose was suddenly thankful for her mother's paranoia. She loaded her bow with a careful arrow and walked into the home.

"Get her!" In a flurry of motion Primrose was unarmed and her arms pinned behind her back. There were five, maybe more, people in her kitchen. They were raiding her fridge but most seemed to have helped themselves to the different biscuits her father had made over the past couple of days. No doubt all their milk would be gone since they had to wash it down with something. "Let her go, she's the daughter."

Primrose stumbled around. Her bow was gone and she recognized only one person, the President. He was the newest President who had been in charge for four years or so. Primrose had only seen his picture every now and then. "Why are you in my house?" Primrose demanded as Willow growled at her side. His hair stood on end across his back and his teeth were bared. As long as Willow was on edge so was Primrose.

"We came to see your mother." The President said calmly. He was a large man with lanky limbs. His hair was dark but graying around his ears. The color of his eyes was definitely fake since the capitol never seemed to grow out of their ridiculous enhancements. They were a dark purple with gold flecks that shone every time he blinked. Primrose immediately didn't like him.

"You're the President," she said in the most obvious tone. She was looking for some typical answer though. If she was able to get the right reaction then the conversation in her head had the perfect come back for the President. As far as she saw it, she was going to be just like her mother. Just like her mother, she didn't have to like the person in charge. She just needed the right response from him to rub it in his face that she was the wiser in the situation.

That's what she got: "You're a very smart girl. Yes, I'm the President," his gravelly voice only made Primrose more mad. He sounded as if he were so superior. "President Markkus in fact." The title rolled off his tongue and Primrose just smirked. In any other situation she would've have snarled at his self centered comments, but she was here to make fun of him.

"Good," Primrose leaned against the back of their couch. Her back heated with the still running fire as Willow leaned against her desperately making sure that she was still there. The dog's fur warmed her leg where he touched her. Primrose tried to keep her white going as she turned her attention back to the President after a small pretense of safety from Willow. "You should know your own laws then," she smirked, "breaking and entering is illegal."

"I'm sure your parents won't mind," President Markkus said calmly chomping down on a small pastry that he had had cupped in his palm since Primrose had walked in. Primrose pushed past the President's guards into the kitchen even with all the commotion it seemed to cause among their numbers. All the milk, gone. She slammed the fridge and settled with water from the tap. When she ran the water and it started off brown she shut it off. It wasn't worth it. They were still working on the piping around the district which left them with water that had to be purified.

There was a knock at the door and when one of the guards moved to open it Primrose shoved past him. "My house, just do your job and protect the President," she snapped and pulled open the door. When she realized who it was she slipped outside Willow following close behind her. The darkness outside her house enveloped her and she let it as Willow brushed against her leg. She was safe.

"Hey Baby..." Hands captured her by her hips pulling her close. His body brushed up against hers and it made her smile mindlessly. He found her lips without trouble. His hands found their way just under her jacket brushing the bare skin of her hips. She allowed his warmth to take her over, and then she allowed herself to let go until she heard feet crunching through the snow. She quickly pulled away looking over his shoulder at Willow who was pacing in the snow worriedly.

"Ash, there are some people in my house. You shouldn't be hanging around here." Primrose whispered. A group of people were headed down from town to her house. There were three and her family was the only ones out here, so unless there were more guards coming for the President, it was her family. They didn't approve of Ash at all. Actually, her mom and Gavin really didn't mind. It was her dad who thought he was the worst influence to ever be born in District Twelve; Primrose agreed. Ash smoked and he was pretty happy about it too. Getting the cigarettes was hard but once he got them he didn't let them go to waste. He enjoyed taunting the Peace Keepers by slipping their whips are batons off their person whenever he had the chance. He was an excellent pick-pocket to say the least and he had taught her a few things. She never smoked though; she left that to Ash.

"You'll come find me tomorrow." He ran his finger along under her chin and kissed her again. "I'll be waiting for you, in our spot." With a warm smile Ash left her on the porch before she could even tell him she would be there. He had a tendency to do that. He expected things from her, the only person to expect things from her. He kind of had her under his thumb thought, and Ash knew it.

When he disappeared into the dark Primrose took off toward her parents. Willow didn't even move from her side even though he usually took off when Katniss showed up. "Mom! Dad! The President is in our house." That ruined the happiness that seemed to float around them. Her parents' faces fell and they took off leaving Gavin in the dust. Gavin tried to run after them but he seemed winded by his day of sitting in the woods with his parents. Primrose stayed back with her brother while her parents went inside.

Katniss and Peeta closed the door to their home behind them. Peeta locked it making sure that Gavin and Primrose wouldn't walk in on the argument that was about to break out. The air was already thick was tension. President Markkus rose to his feet and his guards were suddenly serious with their arms crossed over their chest or on weapons. Their faces were stone as they stood just behind their advancing boss who smirked at the two past victors.

"Get all your crap up and get out of my house," Katniss said trying to contain all her anger. When the President didn't move she did taking a step straight toward him. "You have no right to break into my house. If you even laid a hand on my daughter-"

"Control your wife," one of the guards snapped.

"You brought this on yourself," Peeta shook his head crossing his arms over his chest. "Tell us why you're here and then move out, and I suggest you don't come back. She might get her hands on a bow next time." As the guards tried to make a point they snapped the bow Primrose had had earlier. That made Katniss surge forward. Peeta sprung forward grabbing her by her waist as she fumed. "Katniss let them talk before you gouge their eyes out." He pulled Katniss back into his embrace stopping her with a gentle hand.

"All we came to do was invite you to a party in the capitol. If you're interested, a train will be at the station tomorrow morning at six a.m. We'll have a little meeting of influential people, but that's really nothing. We hope you'll make it." President Markkus gathered all of his followers and they all simply walked out. Primrose and Gavin slipped in the door. Gavin was looking at the guards and then his parents frantically for answers.

Katniss stormed off though before any questions could be asked. Peeta rubbed the bridge of his nose until he heard their master suite door slam. "Primrose help you brother pack we're going to go to the Capitol for a few days. Ask your mother if you can borrow one of her dress for whatever party it is we're going to." He motioned with his hands pointlessly as if he couldn't stop himself. When things happened that stressed him out he couldn't stay still for long because he felt like he had to be moving or doing something.

"Dad, why are we going to the Capitol?" Primrose demanded still suspicious of the President and his people. They had trespassed and claimed it was all to invite their parents to a party? She found it highly unlikely. Primrose was sure her parents were thinking something along the same lines because they didn't seem to know what to do with themselves.

"Baby, I don't know. We'll find out when we get there." Peeta headed toward the stairs and stopped at the base. He turned to his children that were following like ducklings behind him. "Make sure you're next to me or your mother. I don't trust President Markkus." Their father vanished into the master bedroom as Primrose ushered her brother into his room.

"You don't trust the President either; do you?" Gavin asked as he sat on his bed.

Primrose quieted her brother as the phone started to ring because for the first time ever there was a rush of foot steps. They flew down the stairs so fast it was hard to tell who it was. With what seemed like only seconds of ringing that past someone picked up the phone for the first time in Primrose's recollection. "Gale? Is that you...?" Her mother started a conversation with the person on the phone and Primrose turned back to her brother.

"No Gavin. I don't trust him at all."


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey Y'all it's wisegirlindisguise y'all hopefully know me since this is my story. Enjoy the installment of The Capitol's Calls. I will not longer be posting author's notes at the end so I shall put my sincerely to you all here in my beginning author's note. **

**Sincerely,**

**wisegirlindisguise**

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><p>The train was eerie quiet as they stopped in district eleven. Gavin and Primrose were in separate rooms, but Peeta and Katniss were inseparable. The train made Katniss nervous as id she were going to be locked away from each other. Peeta had his arms around Katniss as she laid with her faced buried in his chest. There was no appearance to made even though some people in the other districts outside of Twelve would love to see the Mockingjay.<p>

Katniss wanted her past to disappear. Maybe then she wouldn't be as wound up about this trip, but then again she wouldn't have Peeta there to hold her. If she didn't have her past she wouldn't need to be held. She'd be out in the woods with Gale supporting their families with the rush of a life of living on the edge. There she would be happy. Katniss wouldn't be scrounging for things to take up her day while the kids were at school.

"Play the guitar for me?" Peeta whispered kissing her forehead carefully. The sun was high in the sky, but they had refused to move. Staying still seemed like their best option out of pure fear. Their children would never understand. They didn't want them to though.

"No..." Katniss breathed. It seemed she barely made a noise because she was speaking into Peeta's chest.

"Sing?" Peeta wondered running his fingers through the ends of her hair.

"Okay," Katniss sat up taking a deep breath. It whistled through her helplessly and then it settled inside of her as if made of led. It hung in her throat by a string of sanity making her feel like she needed to just cry and get it over with. She had to be strong though, in case Gavin or Prim walked in.

_Are you, are you_  
><em>Coming to the tree<em>  
><em>Where they strung up a man they say murdered three.<em>  
><em>Strange things did happen here<em>  
><em>No stranger would it be<em>  
><em>If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree.<em>

Her voice shook desperately as if it were cloth in the wind. Peeta watched her form where he lie. He took in her appearance as she seemed to sort things over with herself in her head. Her eyes were glass from tear and a dam held back the wall of tears that sat on the ledge of her eyelids. He wished he could wipe them away and make her feel better, but she was scarred.

_Are you, are you_  
><em>Coming to the tree<em>  
><em>Where the dead man called out for his love to flee.<em>  
><em>Strange things did happen here<em>  
><em>No stranger would it be<em>  
><em>If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree.<em>

As Prim slipped into the doorway unnoticed she listened to her mother. Peeta knew their eldest was there listening as her mom seemed to cry in her words. Katniss had settled for this, and he knew it. Katniss had never wanted kids though Peeta had. Sometimes he could help but feel that he had guilted her into the lifestyle. If everything that went down hadn't she would be with Gale, even though he hated to admit it. They would have no kids and Peeta would be waiting to hear the silence of the Mockingjays to know that Katniss was singing.

_Are you, are you_  
><em>Coming to the tree<em>  
><em>Where I told you to run so we'd both be free.<em>  
><em>Strange things did happen here<em>  
><em>No stranger would it be<em>  
><em>If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree.<em>

Where would he be if he didn't have her? Would he be running his dad's shop? Or, would he be in the Games facing off Katniss' sister. If he had what would he do? Peeta would like to think that he would've been strong enough to kill himself so that Primrose would have a better chance to go home and make Katniss happy with her return... Of course that's what he'd like to think.

_Are you, are you_  
><em>Coming to the tree<em>  
><em>Wear a necklace of rope, side by side with me.<em>  
><em>Strange things did happen here<em>  
><em>No stranger would it be<em>  
><em>If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree.<em>

The know was tied now and there was no turning back. Peeta was well aware of that as Gavin stood next to his sister listening to the last verse. Yes, their knot was tied when they pulled out those berries in the first games. The noose was looped around their neck when they put them in their mouths and they found a loophole in the games. After all that Katniss had done how man rope necklaced did she where? Was one of them tightening as they road this train through the districts to the Capitol? Hopefully not.

"Mommy..." Katniss whipped around looking at her little boy. His eyes were glassy like his mother's as if he had been crying though he looked more in control.

"Gavin," Katniss welcomed him into her arms hugging him close. "Don't sing that song, okay? We don't want to hear you singing a song like that." Katniss hugged her baby boy wishing she could shield out the whole world and everything he didn't understand. She wanted to protect him like her mother didn't. She had introduced the woods to her children so that they would no grow up ignorant and afraid of the group of trees. She was able to introduce that to them though instead of having them thrown among the sharks to fend for themselves.

"Yes Ma'am," Gavin said obediently as he curled into his mother's lap. Prim stayed leaning in the doorway. She watched as Katniss seemed to clutch Gavin for dear life. She was quiet to slip back out of the doorway as she made her way to the phone in the kitchen. From there she would call Ash and apologize for not making it to their meeting place.

Peeta got up from the bed and followed his daughter out only to stop and look at District 11. Two families were boarding the train. Somewhere in the back of his mind he remembered seeing one of the women on the news during the rebellion. He made his way over to the window but as soon as he got close enough to reach out his arm to touch the glass the drapes closed and there was a clang of metal as if a metal door had just fallen over the portal out.

"Uh, Katniss!" Peeta called out and immediately heard her feet start to go across the wood of the train's floor. Prim slid to a stop next to him looking at him and then the window. She reached out to the curtains thinking her father was going crazy. All he had to do was part the cloth. As soon as her fingers got close to the drapes it repelled her shocking her hand. "Prim! Don't touch it!"

"You're a little late Dad." Prim cradled her hand cursing herself.

"Peeta!" Katniss ran up to him and then checked Prim's hand. Prim claimed she was okay and moved away again to pick up the call she had started with Ash. Katniss stared at the window and looked around her. "It's just because this is an old tribute train," she said confidently. "We were never brave enough to move close to the windows when we were on one of these the first time." She looked to Peeta smiling reassuringly. "It's just to keep the tributes from jumping ship."

"Okay," Peeta said calmly though he wasn't so sure. He had touched one of the windows in his room when they rode the tribute train the first time. He had been looking for the vibration of the train to prove to himself that even that detail had existed. He was making sure he wasn't dreaming, or having a nightmare at that. "Let's eat," he said after an awkward pause.

They moved to a different section of their cart and sat down at a comfortable table that was stacked with delicious heavy foods. Prim slipped into a seat at the table after a short while smiling softly. Katniss looked at her daughter and nodded at the happiness she was emitting. Gavin was eating happily like the little boy he was. He started to ask where the deserts were when a waiter handed him a heavy platter of different types of rich sugary dishes. Peeta chuckled as he picked away at a rack of lamb with some sort of sauce. Katniss simply pushed around the contents of her stew with dried plums. Peeta had ordered it for her. It was one of the few good memories she had of the Capitol other than getting her Peeta back.

The train rocked to motion as it began to speed it's way on. Katniss had ruled everything to the fact that this was going to be a meeting of important people meeting and a party. They were going to stop at every district to pick up all of President Markkus' guests. Yea, that's why it was all happening. Nothing other than what the President said is going to happen. _Don't worry, _she told her self, _you're relating him to President Snow and Coin. He's not them. _She was trying to convince herself as much as possible, but even that only went so far.

It was a foreboding bittersweet that he had shown up at her house. He was the President he had rights to people's addresses. He wasn't hunting them. _He was giving us a personal invitation. _Katniss continued to chant similar things to herself as she ate. Gavin was gushing about how cool it was that they were riding such a fascinating train. Prim rolled her eyes at her little brother and his obsession with the mechanics. Peeta tried to carry the conversation but he was having trouble following the terms Gavin had taught himself.

"Peeta, your son has beat you as the house mechanic. Back down," Katniss joked and everyone laughed.

The waiters in the rooms chuckled as well though they said nothing. No, they weren't Avox, but their job was to only be seen and not heard. They got paid for the task at least. Some of them made Katniss think back to the Avoxes that had served them. Peeta even had to stop his hands from shaking as he started to see Darius in one of the men. He quickly looked back to his food when that started to happen because soon he would start to hear Darius' screams. He couldn't bare that.

As they stood from their meal Peeta and Katniss had a moment of lapse. What were they supposed to do again? Bed right? Or were they supposed to go review the Reapings. No, those days are over. They both had to remind themselves that this was a different time and those times were gone. Katniss was not in her mother's dress. She was in casual clothes and she had not been standing in the Square earlier in the day. Peeta had to tell himself that his shoes fit. His brother's shoes that had been passed down to him had burned in the bombing. He would never have to pretend he fit in them again. He was a grown man with two children. He shared those two children with his beautiful wife and they were headed to the Capitol for a get together like any vacationing family.

The family then split off as Peeta went to send Gavin off to bed. Katniss and Prim settled into the couch in front of a blank television set. "Mom," Katniss turned to face Prim at the sound of her given title, "can I ask you a question about the Games?" Prim could barely bring herself to ask that of her mom. How was she supposed to ask her real question? Could she?

"Sure Honey," Katniss said it so calmly. There was alarm in her eyes though. Prim could see it. No, Prim wasn't strong enough to hurt her mother. She looked away and closed her eyes for a moment until a hand touched her arm. "You can ask me anything Prim. Don't worry about me if you're curious about something." Katniss swallowed her alarm. She needed to get past this. Now was the time she would make that effort. "Go ahead, ask," she smiled at Prim when she looked up at her.

Prim watched her mom for another moment or two. Then she opened her mouth somewhat sure that her mother could take it: "Why did you cover that girl's body with flowers and sing to her?" There went her mom's composure. It seemed to stab her. "Mom, you don't have to-" Katniss' hand was up stopping Prim from speaking.

"I did it because at the time Rue was the only friend I had in the arena..." Katniss took a deep breath that didn't fill her hollow shell. It didn't bring her eyes to life and when she let it go it left her even emptier. "At the time, she was all I had other than my instinct." Katniss looked at Prim who looked nothing like her sister. Her name was more to honor Katniss' sister. "I saw a Games when instinct ruined a person. Even with your father I couldn't keep myself completely together."

"So, you did eventually go and find him?" Prim asked in relief. Katniss nodded and turned on the television. Prim thought her mom was going to end the conversation like that; Prim was going to let her. When the Capitol's old seal lit the screen Prim looked to her mom with shock. Katniss didn't turn though. She fast forward through the beginning of everything and went to the point where the Capitol announced that there good be two winners. She sunk into her seat and watched as she risked her life screaming out Peeta's name.

She looked so young on the screen. When did her trouble catch up with her? The Mockingjay who was dangerous and gorgeous was gone. She had lines on her face now and almost none of them were from smiles. The ones that were came from Peeta or her children. Katniss hoped that she moved as gracefully as this girl did through the woods. She just hoped there was some of her left. When the older Peeta sat next to her she knew there must at least be some Katniss left in her. Peeta had fallen in love with her and so there had to still be a her. When Peeta squeezed her hand she turned to look at him and he smiled. Yes, there had to be some of her left.

They watched the games with Prim leaning forward seeming to study it with such a great precision it was almost beautiful. Prim was great with her eyes she caught every detail and never skipped over the smallest detail. If there was a hidden picture she could find it, or if there was an overlooked color she could add the accent color to bring it to attention. Her painting skills had been adopted from her father.

Of course, the pictures that Peeta had painted of the games were now tightly locked away in the basement of their home. Peeta was almost sure Prim and Gavin didn't even know there was a basement on their house. Katniss had covered the door to it with one of the book shelves. _"Out of sight, out of mind," _she had told him. That was a lie. He thought of those swirling colors of death and destruction every day, just like how Katniss thought she could smell a hint of rose forever burned into the walls of Prim's room.

After a few hours Katniss paused the Hunger Games on the screen and shooed Prim off to bed. Once she heard Prim's door close she wilted into Peeta's arms. "Katniss," Peeta would have to get this out fast or he never would, "I don't think that window shut like that because this used to be a tribute train." There it was out.

Now, Katniss would argue over it. "Peeta, it's just to keep the tributes in," she said it as if she had already blown the subject off. It was almost infuriating to Peeta. "We never touched the windows when we were on the tribute trains, so that must be what it is."

"Katniss I did," he muttered and Katniss turned to look up at him. "I touched the window the first time we were on the train. It didn't lock up like that. It let me look out and see everything that we passed. We've been on these trains so many times. Honestly, wouldn't we have noticed it before?" The feelings of worry started to stir inside Katniss. Anxiousness curled up like fumes in her throat choking her. "And another thing, there are more than two families of important people in each district. Right?"

"Yea, so?" Katniss barked not sure how else to respond.

"We only pick up two in District 11. Both of the familes had children in their teens-"

"No Peeta, stop," Katniss closed her eyes shaking her head. He couldn't say things like that. This wasn't a joke to her. He started to say something else and she stood whipping around to face him. "Stop! Stop..." When he tried again she covered her ears. "No, shut-up!"

Peeta stood ripping her hands away from her ears. "Listen to me Katniss. For a second just listen! You have to face this," Peeta snapped shaking her slightly from where he was holding her arms. "There was no need for the President to show up in our home to invite us to a party. Just like last time I think this was a warning. You know once you killed Coin that there was going to be some upset. They were going to hold you to blame. Explain to me why we would only be picking up two families up in each District."

"They only brought us from District 12," Katniss muttered.

"Do we know that for sure?" Peeta asked her squatting slightly to get to her level. "We have been trapped in one car this whole time. We didn't even have to leave this car for a meal. What's to say that there isn't another District 12 family somewhere on this train?" Peeta let her go finally having gotten out what he was thinking.

Then he took Katniss' hand and pulled her toward the bedroom's hallway. He pulled her all the way down the hall too the door that would lead to the knuckle of their car and lead to another one. He went to touch the door and his hand was repelled and he cussed under his breath. A metal sheet poured out from the top of the door clanging against the floor. An image shivered to life on the metal like a projection that had gone fuzzy. A woman with wild blue colored hair and bright purple tattoos that swirled across her skin creating an abstract version of fairies.

"You'll soon arrive in your destination. Then the doors will open and you will then be able to exit the train." The image shimmered and the woman vanished. Peeta looked over to Katniss who was gaping at the door that was now locked and they couldn't even see it. This couldn't be happening. They were trapped.


	4. Chapter 4

**Big things happening people. Sorry I'm so late. I hope you enjoy this chapter. **

**Sincerely,**

**wisegirlindisguise**

* * *

><p>The train's doors opened and suddenly Katniss didn't mind so much being trapped inside their cage. Reporters were buzzing outside greeting everyone that was exiting the train. Yes, they were not the only ones that had been on the train. But, Katniss and Peeta were the biggest news. Well they were plus Gale and a boy that was with him, but they were only two cars over. The buzz was overwhelming and Peeta took Katniss's hand and then Gavin's. He shoved out into the crowd bravely. He answered the few questions he could hear over a cloud of voices and then continued on until they got into a car that had a chauffeur holding a sign with their name. He slid into the limo getting his family in then slammed the door behind them.<p>

There was a knock on the window. Carefully, Peeta looked through the tinted windows and then pushed the door open. Katniss was about to yell at him for his utter stupidity when Gale and the boy she had only barely caught sight of slid into the space of the limo. "Do you mind if we catch a ride with friendly people?" Gale wondered as he sunk in happily on a faux leather seat. Katniss leaned over to him and hugged him tightly. "Whoa, Catnip, you're supposed to be all bitter."

"Shut-up Gale," Katniss sunk back into her seat smiling stupidly at him. She was glad to see him. He still had two arms and two legs. He had managed to keep his head on his shoulders and keep that glint of need for revenge in his eyes. No matter what they fought for there would always be something there. Something wouldn't be right and Gale would want to correct it. He would always want to correct it. Katniss knew she was the same way and so she kind of missed him just someone who would understand her. The two of them together almost spelled out trouble though.

The limo started to move and the doors locked. Peeta had a hand under his seat and soon even Gale seemed to be searching under the seats. They checked the entire chasm that was the back of the limo only finding a few microphones and cameras. They dropped them into a pile on the floor and Gale stomped on them making all of them crack and break into pieces. "Now's the time to talk," Peeta sunk back into his seat holding Katniss close. Katniss was holding Gavin's hand as if Gavin would run off.

"What do you think this is all about? I saw all the other surviving victors and some of the old generals. They're all here for this meeting and this party." Gale sat forward looking to his son worriedly and then to Katniss and her family. "This is my son Lucas. Lucas, this is Katniss Ever-," Peeta glared at Gale and Gale held up a hand, "Mellark, my bad. Lucas this is Katniss, Peeta, and..."

"Gavin and Primrose, Mellark," Katniss filled in for him. Gale rose his eyebrows as if he were surprised that the children were actually hers. Who else's would they be? Katniss had always been clear that she did not want kids. Gale had thought in a small part of his mind that she would change her mind if the world changed its mind, but still he knew her better. Katniss hadn't wanted kids because of the Hunger Games, but she also wanted to keep her freedom. Katniss was a free soul, but she was also accommodating. She had accommodated to Peeta and now they had a full-grown family. How times change.

Lucas looked bored when Gale looked to him for conversation. A heavy sigh escaped Gale and he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "You look good Katniss, and Peeta I heard you were offered the position of Mayor out there in Twelve. You even got an offer from Thirteen? Did you take the jobs?" Gale asked just trying to keep the silence from encroaching on the group. Katniss had just started talking to him again and he wasn't going to allow it to be awkward because there was never a limbo of moods for Katniss. She either was angry or sad and not talking to him, or she was talking to him and happy. He hoped to stay on the latter of the choices.

"I didn't accept the position. I need time with my family and I wouldn't get enough of it pretending to be in charge of a group of people that can handle themselves." Peeta snaked an arm over Katniss' shoulders. He couldn't help but to be a little protective of her. Gale was a threat, always had been. The only time he had considered him good for Katniss was when Peeta had been psycho with the Tracker Jacker venom effects. Gale would've killed Peeta gladly. When Peeta had the dreams about what the venom had done to him sometimes he wished he had.

The nights Peeta had to leave bed were the worst of the dreams. He would roam around the house in normal day clothes before curling up on the couch with a steaming cup of milk. From their living room he would watch the sunrise to clear his mind of his disease. He would never be the same Peeta that he was. Though now he could control it, some memories would come back distorted with Katniss starring as public enemy number one. Before he discovered the calming, grounding effects of milk he had tried beating the sense into himself or running. He used to run for hours and hours, but once it got cold the prosthetic leg and his lung refused the ice. Handling the dreams quietly in the warmth of his own home was the best way.

"I can respect that. If I hadn't been so absorbed in my work and helped out Lucas' mother when she was pregnant maybe she would still be around." Gale looked to his son only to receive a glare from his icy eyes.

Primrose looked at Lucas and then Gavin who was staring at Lucas in shock. They were both thinking the same thing. How could he be so rude to his father? He was lucky to have his father around. He was already missing a mother. Lucas should appreciate his father including the fact that Gale seemed to have it all together to a certain extent. Gale was a tough man, you could tell by his appearance. He reminded Primrose of Peeta. Looking between the two of them, there was definite resemblance in their looks, their looks that only screamed hatred for one another.

Was her mother completely oblivious? Of course not. Katniss was always aware of all around her whether or not she bothered with it was a matter of choosing her battle. From where Primrose was sitting she could tell that her mother was leaving this battle to the men. They would act civil around Katniss; they always had. It was just a fuse that continued to his in its path. It snaked its way to the bomb and it was only a matter of time before it reached the explosive and the war began.

They settled in for the ride after that. Small talk was passed but that was all it did, through one ear and out the other much like the hot breath in the cab. The driver never lowered the wall between them and he never seemed to acknowledge them. His job was simply transport. Katniss quietly measured the distance with time knowing that they would soon arrive at the household of the president. At the stop she had approximated she took a deep breath that did nothing to calm her. A comforting squeeze of her shoulders from Peeta allowed her stomach to fall back into place before had to climb from the car.

The cameras were sure to bombard them; it's what they had all expected. Luckily, the peace keepers had created a security line that no one could cross allowing all of the limos to safely empty themselves into the capitol building where President Markkus was standing on the steps with a brilliant smile lighting his face. He waved to the crowd that was applauding his mere appearance. The old capitol citizens were cheering as if he were some sort of movie stars. The ones that had lived in other districts previously just clapped to respect him. Katniss could only bring herself to nod to him.

In the foyer they were going to be split up. Katnis hugged Gale and Peeta slapped their hands together shaking it once. Gavin said goodbye to Gale and Lucas carefully, but Prim couldn't spare Lucas that pleasure; she only gave a gentle, practiced farewell to Gale. "We'll see you at the party." Katniss smiled widely waving to them as they were led away by a couple of peace keepers.

Gale had to shout at them as the halls seemed to elongate as they went: "See you then."

* * *

><p>Primrose sat on the edge of the bed as Katniss glided around the room. A dress was still hanging in a garment bag on the side of the room in front of the window, Katniss hadn't even touched it. She was setting up all these different compacts, pencils, and brushes on the bathroom sink. There was a razor on the side of the bathtub, but this wasn't going to be Katniss' doing; a knock came on the door.<p>

"Prim, answer that would you? If it's your father or your brother send them away and tell them to get ready." Katniss shouted from the bathroom. Primrose didn't have to give a typical _yes ma'am. _She got up and moved to the door sloppily dragging her feet the way that made her mother laugh.

When she opened the door she did expect it to be Gavin asking some stupid question, but in no way was this her little brother. This woman at the door was a capitol/district mutt though Katniss hate when Prim called them that. Her hair was a natural color, and Prim guessed it was natural. It was a blend of shades of blonde, but it was all hacked up as if someone had taken a razor to it. The Capitol side of her had silver eyeliner and feathered out giant eyelashes around her bright blue eyes.

None of those were her most shocking trait though. From what sh could see the tattoo stretched around to her back, but it curled over her shoulder and crept up her neck. The tattoo ended around the her features on the left side of her face. It was this brilliant swirling black tattoo the was shaped like vines and seemed to be alive on her skin. Where did that tattoo actually start? She didn't want to know. At the same time that she wished her curiosity would die about this woman she couldn't pull her eyes away.

"Hi," her voice wasn't sinister, no she couldn't place it quite yet. "My name is Leera. I came to help you and Katniss Ever- I mean Mellark - get ready for the party." She let herself in by sliding past Prim into the room. Katniss slipped from the bathroom and didn't even pause when she saw Leera. She flew to her and shook her hand. "Hi Katniss, I'm-"

"Leera, I heard the first time. It's good to have a stylist back on our side. I've already got the place set up for you and your team. It's set up like Cinna used to have it so you may have to move things around." Primrose caught Katniss giving Leera a once over, but Leera seemed to be doing the same with Katniss. There were two different intents behind it. Katniss was judging Leera for her style and her all around attitude. Leera was being a stylist, strictly a stylist.

"I learned some of my favorite techniques by looking at Cinna's work. Your recreation of his setup will be amazing I'm sure." Leera moved around Katniss and into the bathroom as if to give everything inspection. Primrose was going to move after her because Leera had caught her attention. Three people pushed into the door though buzzing happily as if everything were right with the world.

Their hair was bright colored or the skin was colored. Some had bigger chosen scars than Leera. The only way primrose could describe them was _overwhelming. _One grabbed her by the shoulders and she fought them off quickly backing into her mother accidentally. Katniss told Prim what was going on and soothed her before Katniss vanished all together into the bathroom with one of the little minions. Primrose was quickly rushed in as well but was now under the close watch of Leera. The work began.

* * *

><p>Peeta straightened his sons tie making sure it was tucked into his waist coat just right. They almost matched except for the fact that Peeta had a bow tie and Gavin was much, much...much shorter. They moved down the hall to wait outside of the girls door finally having gotten themselves together in a "suave demeanor," as their stylist Marquis had put it.<p>

The first of the girls to emerge was Katniss. She had on a gorgeous black evening dress that was very simply but stunning, and very much Katniss. It didn't show too much, which probably made Katniss more comfortable than anyone would even think to believe. To hold up the folds and folds of skirts was a remake of the mockingjay pin while the real one had been fashioned into her hair.

"You're gorgeous, as always," Peeta smiled at Katniss and lifted one of her white gloves hands to kiss the back of it. Katniss smirked at him as if she had already known she looked amazing. Gavin was gushing in his small child way just trying to get favor points with all the compliments. He didn't understand dressing up, but he knew it made Mommy look different, in a good way.

Next was Primrose... Katnis had her doubts and worries about the outfit. Prim had picked it out herself from a collection of drawings at home. She had stared at the picture for hours and hours as if she could wish it real, or reincarnated since Katniss was sure the original had been destroyed. Leera's mind was in very much the same place as Prim's though and had made a dress so similar that Cinna would've been proud. Katniss expressed her worry openly though:

_"If Markkus doesn't side with all of the changes we've made to the Capitol and their ways, you know what will happen to you," Katniss had whispered as Primrose danced about the room in pure joy. She was so ecstatic about the dress she hadn't even allowed them to finish her hair or make up, other than they dress she was still raw from the waxing and hot shower that smoothed out her skin. _

_"To die like my idol did would be a pleasure. Cinna did right by us all, and this dress deserves to see the light." Leera seemed so confident in her choices as if she knew that Markkus was no good just like Katniss' gut had told her. _

Now Prim stepped from the enslavement of the room that kept the stylist's work hidden. A shortened version of Cinna's dress stood before Peeta. The ends were uneven reaching out into pointed that only feathers could make, and that was what the dress seemed to be made of, feathers. There were bands across each of her arms in three places that were gorgeous black silk ribbon. When she lifted her arms she had wings that had white marks that a mockingjay wore on its wings. The bodice didn't have feathers reaching up to his but that was only to let a braid hand down over her shoulder.

Their stylist came from the room as peace makers came to escort them to the ball. The stylist was in a red tight fitting dress but Peeta didn't give her a second glance as he spoke to her. "So, you think the same thing that Katniss and I do?" She didn't answer. "This is a mark against the President and a sentence to death if he reinstates old laws."

"Mr. Mellark, all I'm doing is expressing my side." They entered the ballroom and Leera broke off heading toward other stylists that were buzzing and pointing out their dolls in the crowd. Leera didn't have to point, she simply took a glass of champagne and watched the shock on everyone's faces and Primrose and Katniss Mellark joined the floor and the talk. Everyone would know and did know because they were the talk. Sure, rumors had started to carve themselves into the ruts of rebellious minds. Now it was out: There were doubts about President Markkus.

When Markkus decided to join his party he dove into a pit of laughter from those that had had a little too much of their favorite mix or brew. From when he could see everyone was having a good time, and he would soon be having the best time of his life. The outfits Leera had chosen did not bother him. The Mockingjay herself promoting them did not leave a dent in his pride. Tonight, he would leave on top. There was no doubt in his mind about it. The party was just one more step.

He glided his way, in a fox like prowl, to Katniss where she stood talking among none other than Gale Hawthorne. The Hawthorne's came in at a close second to his favorite guests at their get together. The Hawthorne's wouldn't bother him yet though, they wouldn't really get to action unless the Mellark's took the first step. In Markkus's studies he discovered it had always been that way. Gale always followed Katniss, always.

"Why if it isn't my favorite guests, Katniss and Peeta! You both look ravishing tonight." President Markkus smiled his biggest fake smile and Katniss just waiting for him to crack, but he bent like uncooked dough so Katniss had to smile back and slightly raise her champagne flute. "Gale, it _is _astonishing how well you clean up. I wish I could say the same for your son, but I haven't seen him running about yet. He isn't stirring up any trouble is he?"

"We fixed his trouble problems in District Two, President Markkus, and we don't wish to air that laundry here if you don't mind." Gale's voice was bitter to an extent where Markkus already knew he had been expected for deceit and overall treacherous acts. Gale would not be fooled. Markkus didn't need fooled though, he needed a withhold. Katniss would be that restraint.

"Sorry, sorry, did not mean to strike a chord with that one. Gale, even though I haven't seen your son there was no missing the young Mellark. Katniss, your daughter came in with the gorgeous dress and turned about every head. She seems to be getting the attention she likes." Markkus motioned to Prim who was talking to a group of slightly older boys, and though Gale searched, Lucas was not among them. Prim was basking in her glory though. She was obviously born to take the lime light for herself. _Good, _thought Markkus in a twinge of satisfaction, _her fall will be that much more satisfying to the people. _Oh Markkus had done his homework well. "She's as beautiful as a rose, that one. That's why you name her what you did? For the rose."

"No," Katniss spat having to force the deathly intent of her glare at him to the back of her mind, "she was named after my sister who died."

"You mean was murdered, by your own people too." Markkus mad a low "_tsk"_ noise with his tongue and then glided away as soon as he buried his dagger of words deep into their chests. He went on enjoying his party though as if he had never even spoken to them. The only evidence of the encounter was the ultimate glee that churned a boiled inside of him with the laughter that he wanted to let loose for everyone to hear.

When the time came he returned to Katniss and asked her if she would like to join him outside on the stage for a press announcement. When she refused to join him in front of the crowd he shrugged it off. she had dismissed the offer as kindly as possible and then did agree to going out a listening to the announcement. She was mostly just hoping to get some information on why everyone was there. So they gathered.

Everyone that had been out in the part melted into the crowd only making themselves stand out by their apparel. Primrose still got a fair amount of stares. She got compliments from all. The capitol purists with their crazies colors asked all sorts of questions Prim didn't know the answers to. Those who moved there after the rebellion nodded with some of the purist smiles she had ever seen lighting their features without even having to show their teeth. Peeta kept track of Gavin and kept his fingers on the small of Katniss' back as she spoke to Gale and Leera who were trying to discuss the announcement out in their little group. They tried every possibility they could think of. Nothing would have prepared them for the actual announcement.

"Ladies and gentlemen," President Markkus said it as if he were an announcer for a huge event and immediately lost Peeta's respect, "we have an announcement for you all from all of us here that make the decisions of the people. We've gotten these people together for this party for a celebration!" The crowd went into cheers, but one could tell it wasn't the whole crowd; it was Markkus' followers. "By popular vote from some of our top leaders like Peeta Mellark and other past victors we have brought back a tradition to only last one year, to celebrate our past!" The cheers lowered as realization hit. Only a few continued to clap and even theirs slowed into nothingness. "After 25 years we will bring it back for what would have been the 100 Hunger Games!" Dead silence. Katniss pushed through the crowd and people began to stare at her. A spotlight hit her but she didn't stop. Katniss would end this man now in front of everyone. She had done it before, hadn't she? "There she is: formerly Katniss Everdeen our Mockingjay who made the deciding vote!" She froze and looked at him and his evil glee as everyone turned on her as if to shoot her down with just their looks alone. "She of course will be the first to offer her daughter up to the Hunger Games just as will all my party guests will to make up all 26 tributes. Two from every district just as tradition says, and just as tradition says there will be none from the Capitol." There was still no words among the crowd.

It could get no worse. Katniss felt herself sinking into the whole that was well past six feet. Every glare felt like another ton of dirt dumped onto her. Soon she would suffocate. An ear piercing scream hit the air and Katniss whipped around to see peace keepers taking away Primrose. "Prim!" An uprising hit that section of the crowd around Prim where Leera and Peeta tried to get her. Gale was already trying to get to his own son who was being led away. The peace keepers created a lace pattern making a box design around their targets. The others among the crowd were there to stop people like Katniss who was forced back and to the stage where Markkus put and arm around her as if she were a good friend. Fighting back was no good so she stood there and she cried as the crowed tried to decide what to do other than hate her.

"Let's thank Katniss Mellark for this momentary return of our great tradition!"**_ Translation: _**_Let's kill Katniss Mellark for sentencing twenty six of our children to death._


	5. Chapter 5

"This is all your fault!" A woman yelled at Katniss from across the table as they sat in a large meeting room. Everyone was changed out of their party clothes and were now in clothes that would very well have been used in war. It matched the scene really because everyone was hostile toward one person particularly. She was sinking slowly into her seat covering her face with her long sleeves that she wore to hide her marks of war from all that she met. She didn't regret the scars, but right now Katniss didn't feel like the strong girl who deserved the scars; she felt like the person who should have died from the wounds.

"You'll sit down, now!" Peeta snapped but the person didn't cower back. Everyone in the room was standing on even ground. They had all fought at one point or another. It was only a matter of time before they fought each other. Peeta and Katniss should have more power than all of them, shouldn't they? No, they were the enemy, and if anything rebels were not going to back down from their enemy. That was how they won the war.

Markkus walked in with a vicious smile that he wiped from his features before he spoke. "People, people, let's not kill each other over this one instance of the games. Katniss only voted for what she believed was right at the time."

"Which was twenty five years ago!" Peeta snapped. "Her sister had just died. We had all lost so much, and it wasn't just Katniss. There were others too." Peeta looked at everyone as if to dare them to speak out against him. Markkus set a hand on his shoulder like a good friend would to calm someone down who was about to get in a fight.

Katniss looked up at Markkus from where she sat like a beaten dog, but when Markkus met here eyes she could only see this laughter that he seemed too happy to care about really trying to hide. Her daughter was gone... Tomorrow Gavin would be sent back to District Twelve in a hovercraft by himself because Peeta and Katniss had to be mentors. This man had no bounds if he could he would openly bury her, and that's what he was doing. She was the Mockingjay; they would look to Katniss if anything happened slightly upsetting. If she was the upset all of her followers would turn against her. She was sitting alone now only to fend for herself. The people's rage was blinding them from the stupidity of her sacrificing her own daughter. President Markkus was going to take her followers and then her daughter. One by one she would be knocked down peg by peg.

Katniss stood suddenly and the whole room when silent with the abruptness of her action. President Markkus even looked a little shocked and awaited some sort of monologue she would give. Nothing could turn her around. "I was wrong to vote for one more Hunger Games. This is what happens to those of us that think we can take on the world." Katniss looked at Markkus frowning. "People will push us back down." _I didn't even want to be this high. My job was to survive and then die, _Katniss thought bitterly. "I accept the consequences, but you have to remember who fought with you the first time. Prepare your children for the Games as best you can, and like always we will accept this." Markkus started to wonder what she was trying to pull. There was no bright to this for her. Her daughter was going to be ignorant. Primrose Mellark would be the target every player went after. She would die, no doubt about it. "Like always, the only rules are to survive." She looked at Markkus daring him to blow up. That's what she wanted. Katniss wanted him to blow so that he would show everyone the malevolence of his actions. "If you'll excuse me. I have to start prepping Primrose on the Games," with that she left.

Peeta watched Katniss go out the door and he just smiled. She was up to something and he knew she would figure it out. President Markkus looked livid as he motioned to his guards around the room to watch all of them in the room as he stormed out. The slam of the wood of the door against the frame was a little too loud and for the first time Gale looked up. He looked at Peeta with this eternal sadness deep in his eyes. He had to be the mentor of his own son's fate since the victors of District 2 were long dead. When he spotted the look of hope in Peeta's eyes he gave Peeta a confused look. He nodded to the door and headed toward's it with Gale close in tow.

The two of them walked alone having left the guards behind in the conference room. They stopped in the hall that both of their families were staying in for a moment before looking behind them. One guard had followed them. Gale tensed up as if he were ready to jump the hefty man who had a gun holstered at his side. Peeta grabbed Gale by the shoulder of his shirt with a strong fist and tossed him into his room. Lucas was sitting on the bed with the neck of a beer bottle trapped in his hold. When he saw Peeta he set the bottle just behind the skirt of the bed and stood up as if he had had nothing at all.

"Don't be stupid," Peeta growled and for a moment Lucas thought he was talking to him, but realized it was his father being scolded. "We're not starting a full on war in the halls of the President's house."

"You're pretty damn tough for a guy with a prosthetic leg," Gale grumbled cracking his neck as if to make sure he still had full motion.

The two men glared at each other for a few moments until they heard the pops of beer bottle tops. They turned to look at Lucas who offered one to each of them. Gale took one immediately from his son and walked past him hitting Lucas on the back thankfully before sinking into a chair in front of the TV. Peeta took his offered a little more cautiously and sat on the edge of the bed Lucas had been sitting on earlier. Lucas would complain that he wasn't going to get his beer back, but Peeta would probably go all fatherly if he saw Gale's son drinking underage. So Lucas sat down quietly on the second bed.

"So what's up with Katniss?" Gale demanded nursing the beer for all it was worth.

Peeta didn't drink much ever since the whole Katniss/alcohol incident when they were younger. When he did drink it was only socially. Right now he just needed something to hold so he didn't beat Gale's annoying face in while Lucas was around. "I'm not sure exactly, but she's got something up her sleeve. We just need our tributes to follow her lead. We'll have to make sure they're allied. Which means you," he turned to Lucas, "you and Prim have to get over your differences."

"I'm sure we'll get along just fine," Lucas had a surprisingly husky voice, but as Peeta looked at him he realized Lucas was built to fight.

He had bulking muscles that were sculpted as if he had been... No, not even Gale Hawthorne would guess this would come. Then again, as Peeta thought about it, he realized that really Katniss and Peeta had done the same thing for their children. How many times had Katniss taken Prim out running in the woods and taught her to step quietly so as not to scare away the animals. She had even taken their daughter out and taught her how to use a bow claiming it was to keep her roots. Peeta had been way more subtle about his. He had taught her how to paint, gotten her into the arts hoping she would find a safer route to life. They had always painted the most realistic of scenes: camouflage.

"You've been training him," Peeta looked at Gale, and Gale just smirked. "What'd you tell him it was for?"

"I trained myself," Lucas said bitterly cracking his knuckles. "I was planning on becoming a Peace Keeper. That's what I told everyone at least. District Two is still the main producer of Peace Keepers because the Capitalist don't have the balls." Gale nodded in approval and looked to Peeta waiting for his reaction to see if he had anything bad to say about his son who was tougher than even Gale had been at his age.

"What are you good with?" Peeta asked but the door swung open to the room before anybody could answer.

"That doesn't matter right now Honey," it was Katniss, but she sounded tense. Peeta turned to look at her and saw the Peace Keepers flanking her. Peeta stood his wedding band pressing against the glass of the beer bottle and digging into his skin as he grip tightened on the bottle in his hand. "Their letting the parents mentor their own kids," Katniss explained with tears in her eyes. "So you and Gavin have to get on a train and go home..." Katniss looked down at her feet shaking her head slightly.

"This is bull crap! I'm a victor of District 12 which means I mentor in the Games!" Peeta threw his bottle to the ground sending a shower of beer and broken glass across the floor. Katniss hurried over to him as the wild look entered his eyes. She knew that look. She grabbed Peeta by the arms roughly and looked him straight in the eye. "They can't do this Katniss."

"They're doing this to me Peeta." His eyes drifted and she squeezed his arms. "Look at me." Peeta found her eyes again and realized she didn't look afraid. Katniss looked completely accepting of what was happening. "You can go home with Gavin so he doesn't have to stay with strangers. The parents chose this. They don't trust me. Prim and I, we'll be home soon. Okay?" The craze left his eyes and he only nodded. "I love you Peeta." Peeta lifted her chin with a gentle finger and kissed her gently. They pulled away just looking at each other for a few more moments. "The Peace Keepers are going to help you and Gavin pack and then they'll put you on a train. Okay?"

"You bring our daughter home. Good luck, Girl on Fire." Peeta pushed past the Peace Keepers and vanished from sight. Katniss sunk down onto the bed Peeta had been sitting on pushing around the broken pieces of glass with her feet. Gale sat down next to her and just watched her for a moment while Peeta packed his things in the other room.

Prim was pushing at one of the Peace Keepers trying to get them to leave. "Give us a minute," Peeta finally said as tears started to pour from Prim's eyes. The Peace Keepers nodded and back out of the room closing the door behind them. Peeta had a hold on Prim's arm to keep her from going after them. He pulled her closer to him, but she pulled away bight out of his grip.

"They took my dagger," Primrose growled going toward the door. "I want it back."

When she did get to the door Peeta grabbed her by the hood of her jacket. "You carry a dagger?" Peeta demanded and then let it go. "Nevermind. Prim, Gavin and I are leaving whether you like it or not, and your mom is going to be the one to help you in the games. You'll see us once you get home." Peeta smiled at her and she rushed to him hugging him tightly. Peeta wrapped his arms around his little girl closing his eyes. "You'll see us again," Peeta promised kissing the top of her head.

"Do you know what mom's planning she-" Peeta shushed her not wanting her to talk about it in the President's house.

They hugged for a few more moments before sending her to say goodbye to Gavin. Peeta packed the rest of his things, and luckily when he blew up at the Peace Keepers no one was around. They dragged him and his things all the way to the train where they locked him back in his cage. Gavin soon joined them and from the window of a car Prim and Katniss waved. Gale was sitting in the car with them with a hand on Katniss' shoulder. Peeta promised himself that if he found out that Gale even looked at her the wrong way he would teach him a lesson. If he touched her the wrong way he was dead man. Hopefully, Gale already understood that.

Katniss and Prim sat down in their room when they made it back to the President's mansion. They couldn't go to the Tribute building; it was impossible. They had torn down the Tribute building as soon as possible, all twelve floors completely gone. How the whole training thing would work escaped Katniss because there was no where to work. She was sure that Markkus would figure it out. He would drag out the process until every citizen of Panem hated her. She was, after all, the deciding factor. She always was, whether she liked it or not.

Gale and Lucas made it to the girl's room after curfew sitting down on the now empty bed. Prim had refused to sleep alone and had curled into Katniss' bed with her. Gale woke up Katniss first while Lucas slipped Prim's dagger back into its sheath on the bedside table. He had _relieved _a Peace Keeper of it when the man walked by him in the hall earlier finishing his beer. It was clear it was Prim's. She seemed exactly like the type that would keep one. Lucas wouldn't be surprised if Katniss had one too, under her pillow.

The two girl's were soon awake a groggy. "What are you doing in here?" Katniss snapped and Gale just smiled.

"Go ahead and tell her," Gale motioned to Prim and Katniss frowned. "Tell her Katniss why she doesn't hang out with her friends all the time and why you're always pushing her to do better when you're in the woods. You know it's not because you want her to be like you. You wish more than anything she didn't have to be like you."

Katniss looked at Prim who was looking at her with utter confusion in her eyes. Katniss knew she had been doing this for years. She had even started doing it to Gavin. No, she didn't want it to be like this, but she had expected it. She really had. "I've been training you for the Hunger Games since you were little, but you never realized it Prim. I never wanted to raise children in a world where this could happen, but once you got here I realized you'd have to be able to protect yourself because there would always be someone who didn't like what I did or who I am. I was just trying to protect you."

"And let's face it," Gale cut in, "every single one of these people has anticipated the same thing." He looked to Katniss who met his eyes with the most deadly fear set in both of their stares. "This is going to be a whole new level of the Hunger Games."


	6. Chapter 6

**This chapter is kind of short, but it's really only the interviews and an introduction to the training. I hope you like it. Later. **

**Sincerely,**

**wisegirlindisguise**

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><p>The square outside of the President's mansion was now officially converted to a normal citizen's death trap. Katniss looked onto the square from a window in the mansion cursing herself for not guessing this would happen. The people were going to watch and see what Markkus had forced them into and blame it all on Katniss. He played nice, but Katniss was almost positive of his intention. He would stomp her out like a cigarette before she could do anything to hurt his precious pride and blame him for trying to conform Panem back to what it used to be. So, he would pin it all of the Mockingjay herself.<p>

Citizen gathered around the square looking at the targets and the different stations as if they were all completely foreign objects. It mocked the stupidity and ignorance of Markuss' people. Target were set up for archery and there was a camoflauge station that Katniss had somewhat fond memories of. They would've been fond if her husband was there to share them with her, but he was gone for now.

Katniss turned away from the window and walked back to her room. Once she was in she slammed the door to make the Peace Keepers jump right outside the door. Prim was sitting on their bed slowly moving the mockingjay pin in her hand. She had been obsessed with the thing just looking at desperately as if it were magic and take it all away. If she could wish upon it she would be back home at her's and Ash's place letting him back her up against a wall and kiss her like he meant it like he always did. She just wanted some normalcy.

"Damn it all!" Leera shouted as soon as the door opened she jabbed one of the card with the end of a make up brush and he turned on her glaring for a moment and then smiling. "Accident," she purred and winked at him before she slammed the door to the room with her foot. "With all goodness I love that man, but there doesn't seem to be much of that goodness in the world anymore." Katniss knew that was pointed at her and sunk into a lounge chair in defeat. "Prim, you look friggin gorgeous as always. Can I help you out for the interviews later today?" Katniss looked up at Leera who was happily spinning an eyeliner pencil between her fingers.

"They're later today?" Prim asked looking up suddenly worried.

"No worries Prim you'll pull it off." Leera didn't look one bit worried as she vanished into the bathroom to make the setting for the shower.

Prim looked at Katniss for a moment wishing her mother would lift her head from her hands. It seemed at this point that Prim should've been more important than her mother at this point. Somewhere in the back her mind though she knew no one really cared about Prim unless they were sympathizing her because her mother's stupid choice and how Prim never had a chance. Her mom cared though which was why she continued to cry and wasn't able to sleep. They were targeting Katniss not Prim and Prim was slowly starting to realize that which compelled her to rise from the bed and get into the shower without trying to converse with her mother.

Leera came out crossing her arms over her chest. "Why?" Leera asked and Katniss looked up at her shaking her head. "You're gonna offer up that sweet girl to this when you barely survived it. You've had to go through this twice Katniss! Are you insane?"

"Leera, I said yes to this more than twenty five years ago and I answered the question when Coin was in power. Coin asked me that question," Katniss looked at Leera desperately and realization seemed to hit the stylist.

"Then you killed Coin."

"Then I killed Coin..." Katniss looked down at her hand that were toughened by scars that she earned back by purposefully spending too much time in the woods. "I never wanted this for Prim or Gavin," Katniss muttered. "They had just killed my sister. I-I didn't know what to do anymore. I wasn't the deciding vote either." Katniss snapped her last sentence slamming her hands against the arm rests. "Haymitch sided with me because he knew me. He knew that if I did that then I would see how wrong I was and then I would kill Coin because she was going to be just as bad as Snow she just wanted the rolls reversed; she wanted to be the one enjoying death."

There was a pregnant silence after that where Katniss could only cry and Leera just watched her. Leera's whole entrance had been a show to guilt Katniss into answering her question about her choice. With the answers she got she wasn't sure what to do anymore. She looked at the garment bags as her helpers walked in biting her bottom lip quietly. She looked to Katniss against and smiled.

"Prim is gonna make another message to the people of Panem," Leera told Katniss as she sat down next to the past victor.

"What message is that?" Katniss asked looking at Leera with a small smile as if she wasn't sure exactly if she wanted to hear the answer.

Leera only smirked.

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><p>Katniss hugged Prim careful not to smudge all the work Leera and her team had done. "You've got this Baby. I love you," Katniss smiled with tears still rimming her eyes though she promised Leera she wouldn't cry so that she would ruin her eyeliner. Katniss was in a simple sweater dress by Leera said that it made a point that the focus wasn't supposed to be on her. It was supposed to be on Prim who was about to walk on stage.<p>

Leera came out of nowhere hurrying along the goodbye and then getting in Prim's face. She used a series of waves of her arms moving like lightning and removing pins letting the perfected curls fall down around her. Then with the swiftness of a striking cobra she had the hair up into a ponytail leaving a bit of bangs to hand down across her forehead and over one of her eyes. Her eyes had a dark daring look to them as she lifted one corner of her lips to smile with this deathly sultry look to her posture.

The stylist squealed in delight and handed a jacket to Prim for her to put on. She pulled it on and smiled as Leera squealed again with utter delight at her creation. She fixed the collar of the jacket and then slide a pair of glasses onto Prim's face. "Remember what we're going for here Prim. You're a bad ass and you're ready to fight. Only person you want to listen to is Lucas and the host." Leera chuckled as if she had a funny thought and then shook her head. "Don't take the sunglasses off until you sit down to talk to Liema. She's uh, she's gonna make it hard to keep a straight face, but try as hard as you can." Prim nodded. "Good girl. 'Kay, knock em' out Prim. I'll be watching in the crowd." Leera grabbed Katniss and the two of them hurried out to get seat quickly.

The Panem anthem began and all the tributes headed out on stage. They clapped respectfully in the crowd until Prim and Lucas walked out onto the stage. Lucas was dressed quite similar to what old rebel soldiers would wear with just a little more class to the look, but the resemblance was inevitable. He had on a pair of aviator sunglasses just like Prim, but they couldn't see Prim yet. The applause picked back up with the District Three group.

It carried on until Prim entered and the alliance when then confirmed between Lucas Hawthorne and Primrose Mellark. Prim had the same mirrored aviator sunglasses on, but she was in a skintight army green dress that reached her mid thigh. The large aviator jacket hid the fact that the dress was only a tank top. She wore combat boots that went up to her knee laces all the way up. Prim walked to her seat with her hands shoved into her pockets. When she passed by the District Three she heard the boy saw "Holy shit," and as she got past him she heard him continue, "she's hot." Prim just smirked.

When she sat down she looked around at the crowd and then at the screen. The cameras were fixed on her and when it switched shots it was on Lucas. The main focus was the matching glass especially the fact that whenever they moved their head just slightly you could see the mockingjay in the lenses. The same pin was fastened to the collar of the jacket Prim was wearing. Yes, they had gotten the attention with just their outfits. The one side of her mouth lifted into a smirked. The camera, wherever it was, zoomed in on her face

"Welcome!" Everyone's attention turned to the woman walking on stage with bright green hair. She had on a bright yellow sundress and had the most fake looking silver eyes Prim had ever seen on a capitalist. Her lips, though clearly green, had a sheen of gold to them that shone under the light of the afternoon. "I'm Liema Lite!" Prim almost chuckled at the name. Made for the spotlight. "We're here for the beloved interviews!" No cheer erupted so Liema began to call out the name of the First District Tributes.

Prim did as she was told not listening to any of the questions. She barely even looked at the tribute who had now captured the camera with her pretty face. Liema was bubbly talking enthusiastically to the crowd and the tribute as if it were the sunniest day on the coolest of spring afternoons. It was actually pretty cold and Prim seemed to be burying her hands deep into her jacket pockets. She waited patiently until Lucas was called up. He stood from his stool and slowly went to the chair parallel to Liema.

"Lucas Hawthorne! I'm sure you've seen your share of time on screen because of your father's position over in District Two! Just think of this as more people! So, those sunglasses seemed to be the chatter of the public. Have you created a definite alliance with the Mockingjay's daughter?" Her voice was layered in so many ways it wold have confused to greatest of minds. It was how she asked if he was in an alliance with Prim. _Alliance: _She asked if it was tactical standpoint, a relationship, or if it was just something their parents had forced upon them.

In the crowd Katniss looked to Gale desperately for an answer. Gale just looked at her with a confident smirk before he turned back to his son who removed his glasses hanging them on the neck of his shirt. "We haven't said anything about there being an alliance." Lucas turned to look at Prim who looked cool and collected toward the back of the line on the stage. "I wouldn't mind an alliance." Lucas winked at Prim and prim just smirked at him nodding once as if she were very aware and confident of her appearance. The crowd reacted positively while some of them just didn't know what to make of it. "I guess you could say I'm keeping an open mind. People are too quick to judge."

"So you're saying that this whole thing isn't a product of Katniss Everdeen's choices almost thirty years back?" Liema asked and the cameras immediately found Katniss in the crowd who just waved heartlessly to them.

"Her name is Katniss Mellark. She got married, remember? I heard there was actually a lot of excitement around here because of it." Liema nodded at his words and smiled enthusiastically. "She wasn't an enemy then and she isn't an enemy now." The bell rang and Lucas shrugged. "My times up. I'll see all of you later." He turned to the crowd speaking to them, "Well you'll actually be seeing me." The crowd cheered for him clapping with gusto, and then the interviews continued on as if Lucas had never spoken.

It seemed to go on and on until it was Prim's turn. She got up from her seat and walked to the seat without waving. She wasn't here to be a crowd entertainment. Prim was there to break down reality to the people of Panem. They didn't vote to see if she stayed on the show, so there was no need to make them happy with their words.

"Primrose Mellark! Goodness darling you've gotten so big since the interviews we first got from your parents when you were born. We were aware that in the past your mother has lost a child because of stress and we were just ecstatic to see that she could still give lovely offspring to the world." Prim found her mother in the crowd raising an eyebrow at the statement. Lost a child? When? "Now Prim down to business. What do you think of your mother offering you up to the Hunger Games?"

"My mother didn't do anything like that," Prim slide her glasses up to sit on her head and the crowd began to murmur at Prim's looks.

"What do you mean by that?" Liema asked leaning forward like a hard hitting reporter would. She was just missing the wireless microphone with the cheesy logo and large letters to identify the channel.

"She made that choice and then it was ignored when she changed her mind," Prim looked at her mom and smiled and then to Gale who had the biggest smirk on his face that one could have. "The only person that brought the Hunger Games was President Markkus." The whole crowd went into frenzy. The spoke to their neighbors and then pushed through the crowd to find closer friends as they stood just outside the barricade to the square. The bell rang and Prim slipped back on her glasses and went to sit back down.

The rest of the time during the interviews was spent with little attention paid. The District Thirteens said as little as possible and the Twelve boy sounded far too happy to be taken seriously. Peace keepers came quickly and rushed Lucas and Prim off stage first as the crowd seemed to be turning in their favor. Katniss was answering the questions she could along with Gale. When Katniss turned to her daughter she saw Katniss use the old symbol from District Twelve pressing three fingers to her chin and then extending it to the crowd. The ones in the crowd that saw it returned it, and those who didn't watched in awe as the crowd seemed to be joined together.

Katnis and Gale watched desperately as their children were led back stage. Leera seemed to be trying to get to the stage as well but the peace keepers shoved her back. There was nothing they could do from where they were.

Backstage, Prim and Lucas were shoved together in a small room. Prim looked at Lucas as she took off her sunglasses. Lucas removed his as well and the both of them set their glasses on the small table. They were going to speak, but Markkus came into the room. The first thing he did was knock the glasses to the ground and stomped on them leaving them in pieces. He looked at both of them sneering.

"You think you having a couple of fan will turn this around for you two?" He walked up to them and peace keepers tensed as if they weren't sure what exactly they would do. "Only one of you can win." He singled out Prim getting right in her face and the caressing her cheek with the gentlest of touches with his finger tips. "Even if you win, I'll own you." Markkus lifting her chin with his fingers as if he was going to kiss her but then he turned away and was gone out the door along with the peace keepers.

Tears fell down Prim cheeks as she stared at the door. She clenched her hands into fists and slowly let her eyes fall to the floor as she cried. Lucas wrapped his arms around her. She didn't move to return the hug but just stayed there letting the tears fall. Sobs started to shake her frame and Lucas just held her until she could only hiccup. "We're just going to follow your mom's plan everything will be okay," Lucas whispered and felt her nod against his shoulder. "Nobody will win, not even President Markkus."


	7. Chapter 7

"No, no, no, you're doing this all wrong," Prim laughed and moved closer to Lucas and fixing his stance as he tried to aim for the target with the bow and arrow. She fixed his drawn back elbow and then put her hand over his that was holding the bow. "Now let go," she whispered and the arrow flew. When it hit the target it barely missed the center. "See, you would've killed them anyhow."

"Rose?" Primrose turned suddenly looking to the edges of the square that had become their training area. A lot of people had come the first day, but now only a few people lingered to watch the contestants train. And there he was, Ash was standing there wrapped in his coats. "What are you doing?" He demanded looking at her a little shocked.

"Ash!" She ran to him and the Peace Keepers started to come in. "I'm just saying hello. You haven't stopped any of the other contestants when their family was here," she snapped and the Peace Keepers moved off. She hugged Ash over the barrier and smiled. "Ash, I can't believe your here."

"Well, you didn't show up the net morning and then your face was all over the screen back home. I had enough money saved up to take me somewhere for a couple weeks, thought I'd come here and see you." Ash shrugged it off as if it were no big deal, but in Prim's head she was jumping for joy. The only way she found in herself to express that to him was to press her lips to his. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her as close as the Peace Keepers' line would allow.

They continued to lose themselves in each other until someone cleared their throat. Prim pulled away and looked around only to spot her mother who was cradling a cup of coffee and glaring at them as she walked up. "Ash, great that you could make into town, but, if you know what's good for Prim, you'll let her train." Katniss looked at Lucas for a moment who was pretending that he wasn't listening to the whole conversation. His head was slightly turned too far toward the trio to actually be checking his aim for the next shot he was going to take at the target.

"Sorry Mrs. Mellark, I have to get to my hotel room anyways. The Peace Keepers have been trying to get me to leave as soon as I walked up." _Good for them, _Lucas thought bitterly. He let the next shot go and it flew to the cobble stone of the square lodging itself in the walk way. Prim sighed at the failure and walked away from Ash without much else then a polite goodbye. Katniss smirked at the outcome and then gave her farewells to Ash who shoved his hands deep in his pockets and hurried off. Lucas smirked as well, but he barely let it show through as Prim helped him fix his posture again as she had done in the beginning of the day.

Katniss watched clutched her coffee leaning over the barrier. She had done this for the past couple mornings and watched as Lucas tried to explain snares to Katniss. He made her laugh and smile. Katniss had never really hated Ash, but there was something about Lucas and the way he treated Katniss. Ash had always treated Prim like she was just a pretty girl, a pair of lips and a body, nothing more. Prim needed more than that. With Lucas she got much more than that. Lucas made sure to not touch her unless she touched him first. He had this certain gentleman-like quality. He made sure to always offer things to Prim like opening a door or even fixing her a drink when they were lying around the room. Katniss was sure she liked Lucas more and that Gale had raised his boy right even without a mother around.

"Watching them connect?" Gale asked as he slid in next to Katniss. He had a cup of orange juice and Katniss turned from him quickly as one of those quirky coincidences popped up again. Those odd things that Gale and Peeta had in common scared Katniss. Katniss had even begun to notice that Gale got up in the middle of the night and disappeared until morning as if he had never left offering to help out around the room or get breakfast for everyone.

"Yea, I guess I am." Katniss sighed in content as her lips curled into a smile. Lucas was daring Prim to shoot one of her arrows at a snare similar to a bear trap. She laughed and shook her head saying it wouldn't snap closed on the arrow because it moved to fast. Lucas continued to insist though. "They make a good team," Katniss whispered as Prim shot the arrow setting off the trap snapping her arrow in half. Prim sputtered in shock picking up the two halves of the arrow. Lucas was on the ground laugh at this point. Prim then launched the tail end of the arrow at Lucas hitting him the forehead.

"Yea, they do." Gale looked over at Katniss with the smallest of smiles. "They remind me of us," he whispered. Katniss didn't look at him and continued to look around the square. Sure, they were a good team, but were they like Katniss and Gale? She could only remember the two of them being serious. Prim and Lucas seemed to have found comfort in the fact that Katniss had a plan to get them out of the Games. Katniss had never been that confident in any sort of plan. Her eyes wandered to a girl and boy who were working diligently at knots at one station. They looked up every now and then but exchanged no words only working together at certain points to make each other better. They were like Katniss and Gale.

"They act like us," Katniss pointed and Gale found the couple she was talking about. A frown creased his features and he nodded. Yea, it made more sense that the serious couple was more like them, but when did they ever get the chance to have anything different? They had to be serious to survive and protect their families. They would've been like Lucas and Prim had they had the chance and the circumstances.

Gale began to wonder as Katniss looked at Prim and Lucas with this ethereal fascination if Peeta made her that happy. If she could compare herself and Peeta to Lucas and Primrose. He couldn't bring himself to ask the question though. Hell, it had taken him years to find the courage to kiss this girl. The courage to ask her such a question didn't exist in his head. Plus, Katniss had finally started talking to Gale again. There was no way he was going to ruin it so quickly.

A man came out from the Capitol building onto the stairs leading into the square. Everyone turned to look at him. The couple at the knot station even stood to face him. "This is your last full day of training. Tomorrow after lunch will be the trials." The man looked nervous as he turned away and headed back inside. Everyone went back to work and Katniss looked to Gale for a moment and sighed before walking away completely. Gale stayed put though.

"Here comes hell..." he whispered to himself and then looked at the big screen in the square that was keeping track of the kids with small cameras that couldn't be seen just like the games. He felt like he was already there watching his son struggle. They had a plan though. There was a possibility that it wouldn't be too long before their plan worked and they got all twenty-six of the kids out before they were scarred with the nightmares that now cursed Katniss. Gale found his son on the screen and waited for it to shift to call him over with a loud whistle. Lucas turned and told Prim to give him a minute with his dad. Then he dutifully walked to Gale who offered him a drink of his orange juice.

"What do you need Dad?" Lucas asked refusing the drink and leaning against the barrier.

"How's your arm?" Gale whispered and Lucas scowled. "Is it bothering you?"

"No Sir, it's fine. I'll make it through the Games. We'll follow the plan; then we're out, easy." Lucas stretched out his shoulder pulling his arm back over his head to make sure it didn't tighten up. "My arm is not what I'm worried about anyways."

"You better realize this isn't going to be like one of your crap simulators. It won't even be like this training. People are going to be trying to kill you as soon as you step off that platform. You and Katniss, you're the main target. Don't you dare take any of these kids for granted." Gale grabbed his son by the shoulder and he winced. "It is bothering you," Gale accused letting go of his shoulder. Lucas turned away not wanting to face him, so Gale ran his fingers back through his own hair and then left the orange juice there and walked off as the camera caught back up with Lucas.

Lucas stayed there and grabbed the orange juice making sure not to jostle his shoulder too much. He looked at everyone out there for the first time. Twenty-four opponents were all excelling at the station they were at obviously focusing on that for the trials the next day. The girl and boy from District 1 were sharpening blades of swords looking at each other every couple seconds with disgust. They were not allied partners. They would probably even take each other out as a first act in the Games. The District 2 girl was facing a pathway that had been marked off as a shooting rang. She pulled a gun up aiming the person shaped target at the end of the walk and firing. She hit the shoulder of the target and then found Lucas' eyes smirking.

Lucas put his hand on his shoulder holding it closer to him as if he could protect it. He had known that girl his whole life because of all the events they had to go to together as children of revolutionary stars. She knew his weaknesses as well. When she pointed at Prim she fired with one hand and hit the target in the head. The target even had it's head fall back and then float to the ground. The girl was Marcie and she was happy to turn back to her practice without even a look of feeling sorry.

District 3 looked out of their minds as they worked at camouflage though they looked in sync. They were obvious friends and continued to finish missed strokes from the other person's mistake. District 4 was the couple that were working at the knot station. When Lucas watched them closely he was able to tell what knot they were tying. The one that stuck out was the noose that they showed each other. They looked proud of the work in a way that was all so depressing. Their nods were careful and they quickly pulled apart the noose.

Lucas started to wonder if they planned on competing in the Games. There was a very real possibility that they didn't plan on lasting very long. Many of the kids had seen what happened to victors. Even after they won there was no escape. Stories of Finnick Odair still went around. Evidence of what Peeta had down to Katniss under the power of Capitol still scared away any sort of movement within the people that still weren't happy with their lot. Who wanted to live with the pain knowing you killed someone to help yourself survive?

When Lucas saw Primrose move out of the corner of his eye he got distracted. Lucas turned to her and shifted his shoulder slightly to be more comfortable. He would do it. He would kill people as long as they got out. They had family to take care of. One look at Katniss when she was around Prim and you knew that Katniss' children were the reason she held herself together. If that was ever let go of there would be no end to the madness. She survived for Peeta and lived for her family and the love she found in it.

The District 5 tributes had muscular builds obviously not having missed out on an opportunity to join a gym. They were throwing spears making sure that they never missed their mark. They didn't look at each other though. Lucas guessed they were friends, but they had accepted what the Hunger Games were. They were going to sever the tie they had to each other as much as possible. The less they thought they cared the easier it would be to face the moment when they had to turn on each other. District 6 was much the same though they pretended to be buried in books that told of the different types of berries and fruits that would probably be found in the Arena.

The tributes from District 7 seemed to have taken a break. They were sprawled out across the ground along with the couple from District 8. All of them had water bottle and were taking turns shooting into each others mouths. They looked like they had known each other their whole lives. All four of them looked strong and the pack reminded Lucas of the people that were called Career Tributes from the Hunger Games so many years ago. When the District 9 people joined them Lucas' heart sank. They were exactly like the careers. They were going to be the hunting party and now they were just predators getting to know their prey.

District 10 was trying to work with throwing knives flipping it in their palms a couple time as if they knew close hand combat, but when they tried to hit the target they failed miserably. They were happy enough every time they could get one to stick into the outer rings. Then again, that was all they really needed. They would just have to slow the opponent down. The rest of their obvious hand to hand combat would take care of the fight. The two slapped their hands together in celebration as they both landed one in the target and then they took off as if they were done for the day. The peace keepers let them go though.

The group next looked sad as they sat on the steps leading into the Capitol building. The District 11 group. They had sad expressions and were holding hands. The girl had tears in her eyes but the boy was whispering something soft into her ear trying to distract her. A small smile would pull at the corners of her mouth and she would nod just trying to choke back the tears. He took some dog tags from around his neck the peace keepers war and hung them around her neck with a gentle smile as if he would be able to promise her something. It only made her close her eyes and cry harder as she clutched the dog tags in her hands.

The boy from District 12 was going between stations and eventually found himself talking to Prim. She smiled at him, but in no way did it look like she favored him. She looked as if she was just enduring his company until Lucas returned.

The District 13's were right next to the two studying a book that they hadn't put down since they found out about the games. When Lucas got a sneak peak he realized it was a book filled with different formulas to make certain explosives. Whether they were going to make them or watch out for them, Lucas didn't care, but he had been itching to ask Prim if they should make them their allies. She would refuse of course, but so far their possible silent attacks scared Lucas more than any of the rest.

"Lucas," he turned immediately at Prim's voice especially because there was an intense worry behind it. The District 1 girl was heading straight for Prim. Lucas found the control in his head to walk and briskly moved to Prim's side grabbing a knife from one of the table along the way. "What do you think she wants?" Prim whispered, but Lucas had no time to answer. The girl stopped right in front of them and Prim's soft side was gone. "What do you want?"

"Listen, I don't give a shit whether or not your momma threw us into this," when Prim tried to cut her off she held up her hand. "Don't interrupt Rose. Like I said I don't give a shit, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt." Prim said a small thanks sarcastically and the girl nodded as if it were an actual compliment. "Here it is though, I want to be your ally." Prim jabbed Lucas in the ribs and he scowled at her before pulling her by the arm away from the girl.

"She's strong; we could use her help," Lucas whispered making sure that the girl didn't hear.

"I don't want to ally with one of Careers-"

"We're all Careers Prim!" Lucas turned away for a moment to put his head back on straight. "We've all been training our whole lives, so it'd be nice if we had one less person that's hunting us while we're trying to get out."

"What's to say she won't kill us as soon as the gong sounds?" Prim demanded. It sent Lucas' argument spiraling for a grip on the situation. "See, you can't promise that." She said it as if it were an accusation that he couldn't escape and for some reason he started to believe it.

"There's two of us though," he finally got out just barely getting back into the fight. "We can take her down before she takes us down."

"What if she targets one of us specifically?" Lucas looked at her in the eyes realizing her fear. It was there. This utter terror that shown out like a beacon for help. Prim was the target. No matter what all of the kids in the competition were going to try and take her down for the sake of getting back at Katniss because every one of the kids blamed Katniss, with no regret, for their situation.

"I won't let her hurt you," Lucas breathed and Prim believed him. She nodded carefully and then Lucas turned back to the girl. "What's in it for you?" _You're not accepting it right away? _Prim demanded in her head. He had gone through this whole big convincing thing with her and now he was going to take his sweet time interrogating the chick. Prim would rather be training. This was a waste of time.

"Whether I like you are not, word is that Katniss threw you guys in this." Prim boiled with anger at the girls words. The seething that she hoped she was hiding well made her cheeks feel warm and she clenched her hands shut tight. "No matter what, your momma," the girl pointed at Prim, "has got a plan to get out of this thing unscathed. I want in." Lucas looked at Prim for reassurance and Prim was the one to step forward and slap hands together with the girl to shake her hand making it a deal. "See you in the arena. By the way, the name's Serena. Good luck training folks." Then she walked off as if it never happened. She grabbed her sword and continued to train.

"Why would you make a deal if you don't trust her?" Lucas demanded as Prim headed for the Capitol building to leave training.

"It's one less person hunting us, Lucas."

"What if she tries to kill us first?" Lucas spat as they walked inside in the main hall. Lucas grabbed her arm finally stopping Prim just for a moment.

"Because, I'm going to kill her first," Prim said it so blatantly obvious that it made him sound stupid. It left him dumbfounded though as he watched her stalk off with her fists at her side shut so tight that her knuckles were white. These games were going to be the end of something, and if it didn't kill one of them physically; it would be mentally.


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello all, I know I don't post much, but I'm hoping this story is worth it. Enjoy. **

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><p>Prim woke up and took one look at the pile of clothes near the door with a large watch that was black and orange. Immediately, she got dressed not worrying about what this pile of clothes meant. At this point she and Lucas were at odds. They were starting to become very much aware of their differences that were staring them in the face now that they had to "use them to their advantage," as said by their parents, multiple times. Lucas would spend the morning avoiding the pile of clothes while Prim gathered her things, which meant Leera, slapped on the watch, and then she was gone with Katniss trailing behind desperately still trying to wipe the sleep from her eyes.<p>

"This is going to suck," Lucas muttered as he swiped up the Tylenol on his bedside table and downed it without water. He stood and set his shoulder by pulling it closer to his body.

"Just remember, you guys need to work together with Serena, and go in, follow the plan; then get out." Gale caught himself before he said it would be easy. It wasn't going to be, and now that Lucas and Prim were fighting Gale hoped his son realized that.

"I know Dad. I know." Lucas grabbed the clothes and went to the bathroom slamming the door behind him. He just needed a minute. Lucas sat down on the edge of the bathtub in the Colosseum of a bathroom looking at the stark white of it all. It mocked him in it's simplicity but elegance. It didn't have to work to be appreciated. Its size took care of that. He was being tested. Because his father couldn't keep his head on and stay out of the rebellion, he was here.

There were people that Lucas was sure that would never have gone for it. One of them was Katniss. In order to protect her family, she would have stayed away from the rebellion. She was roped into it, and now her sister was dead.

Stupid choices! Stupidity! The stupidity of those who have sick minds! _Let me out! _Lucas touched his chest over his heart trying to calm his heartbeat. He couldn't freak out now. He had to get this over with. There was a knock on the door and Lucas looked at it waiting for someone to yell at him. No one did. He got dressed quickly and opened the door to find Katniss standing there. Funny, hadn't she left wither her daughter?

"Yes?" He asked leaning in the door comfortably as if he hadn't almost had a panic attack just moments ago.

"I'm sorry," her voice was barely heard, but he caught her words. _Sorry_? There was a moment when Lucas just looked at her surprised. This whole time she had seemed so tough, but now there was something that had snapped. There were tears brimming in her eyes and she seemed to swim in her emotions that were overflowing through her. She screamed the need for help, but there was nothing anyone could do until her daughter came out safe and in one piece. When Lucas opened his mouth to say it wasn't her fault she held up a hand that had a tissue crumpled inside of it. "Don't lie to me and tell me this wasn't my fault. I knew Haymitch would agree with me. Just tell me I'll see Prim out here again."

Lucas nodded. When that wasn't enough he opened his mouth: "You'll have her at home. Safe," his confirmation seemed to comfort her and she was able to nod back and then move away from him and back out the door. Lucas looked around the room to see his dad standing quietly against the far wall. "She's falling apart."

"And making lies to cover it," Gale agreed and then went up to Lucas. "You ready to go?"

"Is anyone ever ready?" Lucas countered and Gale shrugged. It didn't matter now. He was sure he would see his son again, but Lucas worrying wasn't any good for anyone. Gale slapped him on the back and Lucas headed for the door. Coming to terms with it would have to come sooner or never. If he did, he would be calmer in the arena which meant there was a better chance he'd keep his head on.

They left the room together, but soon the peace keepers took over. President Markkus wasn't going to take chances. If anything, he was going to make sure that there was no chance that the parents would pull any crap. To make sure of that, the peace keepers waited for the initial goodbyes and then took the children from the parents who would be stuck in a room to mentor from. The kids were forced into a sectioned off cavern of a room that stretched into a half circle though the kids couldn't see that. Lucas stumbled into the room muttering words that shouldn't be repeated.

His feet couldn't seem to find the ground and his hands shook as he walked to the plate. Glass enclosed him and he closed his eyes to try and force himself to breathe. He could hear the mumble of a capitol anthem and the plate began to rise. The peace keepers didn't even look at him as if he were the predator that was despised in the fight. On that rise and the way those men treated him, his hands stopped shaking. He didn't care anymore. If all he could do was save himself and Prim then he would. If Prim killed Serena that was her choice; he didn't care. His job wasn't any of those things.

The plate stopped and Lucas opened his eyes looking at everything around him. Animals thrived and the sound of utter peace resonated through the air. Their was a growl of some vicious predator in the distance and Lucas sighed. Welcome to the rain forest. As if to pound it in his head once more President Markkus' voice came over the speaker to remind them of the rule. "Survive." The gong sounded and everyone took off.

Lucas didn't even look for Prim and Serena. Prim would do her job, and he trusted her. Lucas just needed to watch his own back. He made it to the cornucopia and grabbed a few things of food before he made it to the gun he was looking for. The District 9 boy came after him knowing that a gun in the hands of a District 2 meant many deaths. Lucas whipped around with the gun to face the boy only armed with a knife. Lucas pulled the trigger and nothing happened. It was empty! "Dammit!" He looked at the boy who was waiting for him to run in the obvious choice for the fight or flight. That's why it took him by surprise when Lucas charged at him screaming at the top of his lungs. The boy tried to take a stance to fight back, but Lucas was already there. He disarmed him and slammed the butt of his gun against his head. The boy fell and Lucas left him there taking the knife with him. Lucas got a hold of a few clips of ammo and was in the woods behind the cornucopia in moments.

He ran for what seemed like hours and only was a few minutes before he made a huge realization. There were no bodies of water. Lucas slowed and finally stopped looking up at the treetops. He was completely blocked inside the forest. There were only small streams of light the lit the ground, but he hadn't seen any water source near the center of the arena where they were dropped which was where it always was. As he sat there and listened he didn't hear any running water that usually went through rain forests. Creatures went by speedily and were gone in seconds. He even saw some strange fruits hanging in a far off tree. There was a bundle of apples in his arms, a bottle of honey and a box of what looked to be crackers. Lucas spun around once more before he started walking.

When it sounded like footsteps were coming up on him he dropped his food. He loaded a clip into his gun and pointed it toward the trees that led back to the cornucopia. "Lucas, it's us," Prim's voice found its way through the trunks and brush until both Prim and Serena emerged. They both had some food, but Prim was clutching a gallon jug for water that was empty. Serena didn't have the iodine to purify it. He already didn't like her.

"There was no iodine up there, Two. Don't look at me like that," Serena snapped. Lucas brushed it off and picked up his things again. "So where are we going?" Serena asked as they started walking farther into the woods. For a long impregnable silence no one dared to speak. When a bird flew close over head they all seemed to snap out of their trance. "I asked, where are we going?" Serena was becoming impatient and Lucas and Prim looked at her both annoyed.

"Away from the masses," Prim said in a stony voice that almost had no life to it. As if it prove that they needed to get away from everyone else, there was cannon fire. At first, there were only two shots fired as if both people had died in one fight. Then there were more. Three, four, five. Five people, dead. It had happened to fast as if one after the other they had been cleaned off the face of the planet. There had only been a small pause between two and then the last three that went down in that short amount of time. Lucas couldn't get the picture out of his head of Paige, his District 2 counterpart, with a gun in her hands leaving behind the fallen tributes in her wake as she walked away.

Prim imagined poor little Onyx, the boy from 12, lying in that puddle of blood. She had known he would last long and she was sure his face would be in the sky that night. Serena really didn't tick anyone off her list in her head. She could underestimate no one because the one person she did would end her. She had to take everyone as seriously as she took the Careers.

It was no doubt that all that the Careers had already made it away from the cornucopia. They were probably already in their pack and off hunting the next unfortunate soul that got caught in their clutches. Twenty-one left. _Bang! _Twenty.

"We need to make camp up in the trees somehow," Prim finally said as it became more blatantly clear that the sun was down and had been down. They all looked up at the nearest branch. There was nothing close enough. Everything was a terribly high climb and even then the branches didn't get very thick until a while later. They couldn't even see the sky.

"How are we supposed to see the faces of the Fallen?" Lucas asked finally voicing the question in everyone's head.

"Don't worry about it," Prim dismissed all the worries and led the group of three up into some buttress roots to set up camp. "This'll be enough cover for tonight. It won't be comfy, but it's safer than out there." She threw a motion over her shoulder to the open brush that they couldn't easily be seen in. They all found a semi comfortable place for the night and curled up. Lucas fell asleep first leaving Prim and Serena. Prim glared at Serena, waiting for it. She was waiting for Serena to be the typical competitor. Tear apart her allies to make sure they stayed out of the way when it came down to it.

Serena didn't even look at her. She pulled a piece of paper from the inside of her boots and unfolded it. A weakness, a love letter, Prim thought, but when Serena let the paper slip and Prim saw it she realized it was a list of all the competitors. It was in ugly chicken scratch and all of them had names. She knew everyone's name, and she was keeping track. "I plan to know who dies to make sure I know what the competition is since you people still won't tell me where we are going."

"How are you going to keep track of the people if we can't see the faces at the end of the night?" Prim asked smartly as if she was trying to get on Serena's bad side.

"They'll figure it out. The Gamekeeper isn't stupid."

What seemed like hours of silence later the capitol anthem played over the arena. It was loud and drowned out any noise. When Prim waited for it to continue it faltered as if the disc was scratched that was playing it. Two more cannons went off and the arena fell into a deadly silence for too long. Then the anthem started over again and they were able to finish it this time. Their watches beeped on their wrists and it woke up Lucas who shot up like he had been burned. After he looked around wildly he joined the girls with look at their watches which had never really displayed the time only a digital copy of the Capitol's emblem. It lit up bright then though. It shot an image out form its surface displaying carefully, the faces of the days fallen. Nicole from District 3. Both District 4 tributes: Cooper, and Jenny. It skipped to District 6 which had both also been eliminated: Jack and Whitney. District 10 was the next and they, too, had both been eliminated: Lenora and Tristan. The last one was Onyx, District Twelve.

Lucas looked at Prim who just nodded as if she had expected it. The District Four tributes had been no shock to Lucas. They had probably been planning on killing themselves and finally found a branch low enough to do it from. Paige was still out there though which meant he was in danger. Lucas looked around again before their watches went completely dark. No one was close enough to see which meant that he and Prim were probably safe for one night. Lucas looked back to Prim who was eyeing Serena. There was a plan in her eyes as the surroundings went dark again.

Serena crossed off the names as she remembered them and then all of them seemed to find peace with sleeping. All three of them went to bed and Lucas let himself drift off. He woke up when their was a cannon fire. He looked around desperately for Prim only to be thrown his load that he was supposed to carry which included the jug that Selena had been carrying the day before. He found Prim's face in the early morning light as she wiped off the blade of a knife she had concealed the day before. Lucas looked to where Selena had fallen asleep and seemed to still be sleeping. "Let's go Lucas," and like that Prim grabbed her things and walked off.

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><p><strong>Sincerely,<strong>

**wisegirlindisguise**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello all! Welcome back to the Hunger Games! Are you ready for the challenges of the day? Let's hope you are because I'm going to go through the games as if all of these people were careers. I am the Game Keeper. Welcome to my game. **

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><p>For days, they just walked. Prim and Lucas only exchanged purposeful words. There was no small talk. There was walk straight, don't look back, and keep your eyes and ears open at all times. They spoke less and less until they were in sync with each other simply because it was natural. Small hand motions, certain looks, they led the way around obstacles. When they set camp for the night was the only time they talked because then Lucas would repeat the names of the people who had perished that day.<p>

They set up camp in the large buttress roots of a tree for night. A while back there had been a tree they could climb up into, but the monkeys had lived there. They screeched so loudly that one of Lucas' ears had bled. He hadn't lost his ability to hear, but everything seemed a but muffled. After the monkeys they had met a family of tigers that didn't look too happy to see them. Lucas and Prim had thought much like the tigers who had stopped to drink from a rather large puddle from the rain a couple days earlier. The cubs got away unscathed luckily. The mother didn't have such a happy end though.

The Game Keeper wasn't going to let them get to their destination so easily would he? No, he was going to continue to throw all the different types of obstacles at them until they turned around back toward the center of the arena. Why would they do that though? That's where everyone was dying. The last place they would go would be the center of the arena where the competition was.

Lucas pulled the shotgun shells they had collected from Reagan and Pierce when they had crossed paths. The both of them had been farther out then Prim and Lucas expected them to get. They couldn't let the two live unfortunately. As Lucas cracked the shotgun shells he collected the gun powder and then slipped it into his sock that he had taken off a couple days back. It was starting to fill up, but he only did a couple of shells a night because it gave him something to do. It was going to be enough, hopefully.

Prim watched him quietly though she had the list spread out on her lap. It was Serena's list and she had marked off the first seven, but now Prim used it to keep track. Serena had been able to sneak it into the arena because the peace keepers hadn't bother with it. She had even managed to get a pen in too. Now, Prim carried them around and every night they would mark off the deceased. Only four people had died since that first night and it had been seven days, a week.

"Who's left?" Lucas asked in a quiet voice as the sky began to go dark. They had set up camp early for the night and they had water to last them a couple more days, but it would rain long before then. It had rained almost every day since they went into the arena.

"Reaper from District 1, you and Paige, Tyler from District 3, Gwen from District 5, Emma, Owen, Shannon, and PJ from District 7 and 8," Prim looked up at him as he listened patiently. He never even looked up. It was as if he found her boring. "Meagan, District 9. Odessa and Linus from District 11, and..."

"You," Lucas finished as he set down the tied off sock. He buried the shell carcasses and then finally looked up at Prim. "There's only thirteen of us. How much longer do we go on until we find it?" Lucas asked and he looked to the sky as if waiting for an answer to fall. Nothing did.

"I don't know Lucas, maybe soon. They're not going to make it easy." Prim shrugged as if she didn't care, but there was a hopelessness in her eyes. Lucas seemed to understand that loss for hope as he scooted closer to her. The comforting arm he put around her did nothing for a moment. Soon after she leaned into him and closed her eyes. "It can't go on forever, right?" Prim whispered and Lucas shut held her unsure of what to say. The capitol anthem played, but there were no deaths for the day and all stayed dark. "Goodnight Lucas." Her words were barely a breath.

"Goodnight Primrose,"

The next morning Prim was curled up in Lucas' arms. She moved away from him and began to pack up. Lucas woke up shortly after stretching his arms before discovering they were empty. He looked up in alarm as Prim who was bustling about. She nervously tucker her hair behind her ears which had come out of its braid a long time ago, and she just hadn't bothered to fix it. But now she pulled the hair-tie free of her tangled locks and pulled her hair up into a ponytail. She thought Lucas was still sleeping too because she sat down on one of the buttress roots facing away from him and whispered sorry to Ash wherever he was. The name made Lucas' anger flare up and he bit the inside of his cheek. Lucas fixed his shoulder in his socket wincing at the pain from carrying so much weight every day.

Quietly, he stood and collected his things. When he reached to the spot where he had left the gunpowder, it was gone. He looked around wildly and then at Prim. She hadn't grabbed it, had she? No, he had been watching her collect her things that morning. The gunpowder was just gone. An arm melted from the tree and grabbed Lucas from behind. He took his bad arm in a vice grip and yanked him backwards. Lucas was about to scream but a hand covered his mouth. It was a green hand though it had brown in it for the tree bark the person had been hiding against. Lucas moved as if he was going to struggle and a knife was pressed to his rib cage. He took that as _"Don't move." _

Lucas looked at the back of Prim's head waiting for her to turn. _Turn! Turn! _Then he changed his mind. If she turned she'd be in danger too. She wasn't going to leave without him though. Without a sound, Lucas slung back his elbow and got the guy in the ribs. The guy sputtered for air and tried to get the dagger into Lucas' side, but Lucas knocked the dagger from his hand and cornered him up against the tree. "Tyler?" Lucas spat. Prim appeared at Lucas' side glaring at the boy. "We've been friends forever. What the hell man?"

"You know the rules of the game Luke. I've got to survive," Tyler spat. Out of the corner of his eye, Lucas saw Prim move suddenly. As if there had been almost no pass of time, Tyler fell limp in Lucas' hold. He tumbled to the ground as Lucas couldn't bear his weight anymore. The dagger that had been in Tyler's hand clattered against the wood of the roots. A cannon sounded around the arena and Lucas turned on Prim with shock in his eyes.

"Before you yell at me," she said quickly holding up a hand, "he had another knife and was about to kill you." Prim wiped off her blade and knelt down next to the body of Tyler pulling out Lucas' sock filled with gunpowder. "Plus," she handed it back to him looking up at him from where she was now squatting, "he was a thief. You know we need that gunpowder."

"Let's just go," Lucas growled grabbing his things and then Prim's arm. He yanked her to her feet and away from that night's camp. Lucas looked back at the place where Tyler had fallen. A motorcycle that seemed to float above the ground on some kind of suspension shot out of a floor that rose at one part of the wood's brush. When Tyler's body was encased in a side cart that extended from the main bike the bike took off again and disappeared into another door. Lucas looked up to the sky again and seemed to realize that this was their fix to the fact that there was no way the hover crafts could get into the canopy of the trees. The doors were silent no matter how large and sealed tightly.

"Lucas?" Lucas turned to Prim and then walked past her. He and Tyler really had been friends when they were kids. His dad was always going to District 3 to talk to his mom about peace between the two districts since there was still some hostility between the Technology and Masonry groups that had been there since Gale's and Prim's time. He wasn't sure what he thought of Prim. Sure, she had saved his life, but what if they could've convinced Tyler to be on their side. They could've told him the plan. He was Lucas' friend; they could have trusted him.

He didn't answer Prim and just kept walking. They moved on far from their last camp until they came to what they had been searching for. A large rived spanned out and slowly curved to surround the whole arena. Without any land beyond the river there was the force field. They searched with their eyes looking up at the force field where the sky was clear for once. There were no trees anymore and the vines didn't make a lace that choked the sunlight. Prim looked at the sky and smiled happy to see the open air. Lucas paid her almost no attention as he searched and searched for the chink in the armor.

They walked along the river continuously. Prim had taken off her shoes and dragged her foot in the water when she could. She slammed into Lucas' back at one point and was about to yell at him when he grabbed her arm and pulled her backwards. She didn't see it until she looked back over her shoulder at the crocodiles perched on the shore. "Lucas take off your shoes," Prim whispered. Lucas looked at her with wide eyes. "You went hunting with your dad didn't you?" He nodded. "You can moved quieter and faster without the shoes; lose em." Lucas pulled off his shoes tucking them under his arm. The two of them took off together back into the woods.

They ran and ran and when they finally got to rest they rested under a low lying tree. Lucas laid down with the water jug that was full from when they filled it at the river. Prim, however, didn't take a break. She got up into the tree and climbed to the top of the low tree where she was able to jump to the next one which led higher. She started using the vines and eventually made it to the top of the canopy. Birds and tree animals moved around her not bothering her at all because they weren't meant to. The Game Keeper was rewarding those who made it that high into the canopy. Plus, anyone up there would eventually have to go back down, and Prim would; she just had to get a look at the forest from the top.

Prim poked her head out the top of the canopy holding onto the highest branch. The Arena seemed to stretch for miles. It was just miles and miles of green tops. It rose and fell as if it were an ocean. It rose up like waves and fell again into pits. The center was a clear spot where the gold of the cornucopia glinted into the air. They were about as far as one could get from the center, but it wouldn't be like that for long.

Prim climbed back down and she and Lucas went through their nightly routine. The only difference between the night before was how Prim curled up to sleep as far away as possible from Lucas. The two went to sleep and stayed that way until the rain came. The first drop fell on Prim's face and she shot awake. At first, she was willing to ignore it until a new sound filled the air. Running water. "Lucas..." Prim shook Lucas' arm. When he didn't wake up she shook his arm more vigorously. "Lucas! Wake up now!" Lucas got up slowly and blinked up at her through the water.

"Do we have to go find cover?" he mumbled through his tired stupor.

"No, Lucas we have to go. Grab what you can. Let's move." Lucas still moved slowly until the sound of rushing water reached his ears. He grabbed the jug of water and one other bottle, he didn't really know what of, and took off. His gun was still holstered at the small of his back where it was tucked into his waistline. His shoes were lost to wherever they had been thrown along with Prim's and they took off. Prim had her bow and arrow over her shoulder like a sash along with her filled quiver. Her knife was sheathed at the side of her thigh with a piece of ripped off cloth. They took off as fast as they could. There was no time to watch their step or the sound of their feet. There was only running.

The water caught up a little too quickly for anyone's liking. It soaked Lucas' feet first and they tried to speed up, but it was already too late. The water got to them and they both went under. They were shoved toward the center of the arena where everyone else was having a fight to the finish. Lucas grabbed Prim's hand and they tumbled through the water together as best they could. They kept their eyes closed as twig and debris ripped at them. Lucas' bad shoulder slammed against a tree branch and as pain shot through his arm he found the strength to grab the branch. The water sped past them and eventually it was all gone. Prim latched onto the branch and pulled herself up. Lucas was able to get himself up and the two of them spent a while just trying to catch their breath.

"Okay Lucas, let's go. We can jump from here and make it to the ground. There's a tree over there that is on a decline we can use the tree as shelter and sit under the tree." Prim was about to jump down when Lucas spoke up.

"Prim, I can't."

Prim looked back at him where he was clutching his arm. "Oh my god," Prim moved closer to him balancing carefully on the branch. His shoulder was popped out of place completely and he was holding it as if it would fall away if he let go. "Can you feel it?" Prim asked as she pushed his arm away and held it still where he had had it.

"Definitely," he said through gritted teeth.

Prim moved immediately taking off her sheath from her leg. She was going to use it to keep his arm set when they moved. She reached up past him using her dulling knife to cut free a small branch that was about the thickness of a quarter. She snapped off the end farther out where the leaves were and sawed off the other little twigs coming off of it.

"You know how to do this?" Lucas asked as she mumbled to herself.

For a moment Prim laughed though she didn't look up. The laugh was uncertain and it took obvious effort to get it out. "I've seen my mom do it, but we're all closer now and I don't have to do it the slow way." She looked up at him finally and he just nodded as if he understood. She handed him the finished off branch. "Bite down." He did as he was told and then closed his eyes as if it would help. "Now I saw her do this to my dad when he screwed up on the woods so bear with me." She lifted his hand that seemed so lifeless at his side. She put his hand on her knee and kept a hold of his wrist. Chances were this was just how her mom did things like this. Her mom had never been much of a medical person. She wasn't going to count for him though. She was just going to do it. She put a hand closer to his shoulder and counted in her head. _One, two...three. **Snap! **_It popped back into place. "Don't scream! Don't scream... sorry..."

She waited for him to relax and then pulled the stick from his mouth. "Good job Dr. Mellark."

"I'm so sorry. I heard that it really suck when you dislocate your shoulder the first time," Prim said in a rush. She carefully set his hand off her leg and turned bright red.

Lucas wasn't sure why she turned to bright red but he didn't pick at her for answers. Together they got down from the tree branch and made it to the cavern under the tree that the buttress roots had created on the hillside. The hillside dipped down into a small hole of the rain forest where water had collected into a pond like section where they could collect water if they needed to. They sat down and started to take everything into inventory: the water jug - half-full, a squirt bottle of honey that hadn't been used at all. They had their weapons, minus the gunpowder, but they didn't need that anymore. There was no chink in the armor. They were trapped.

When the sound of rushing water completely vanished the cannon started to go off. That day in the flood there were three lost. That night when their watches went off they made sure to hide the light of it by digging deeper into the trees cavernous root systems. Reaper from District 1, and Gwen from 5 were gone. The one between the two was Paige. Paige was out of the way. Lucas couldn't decide, as he sat there, if he sighed out of relief or sadness for the death of a friend. The breath came out heavy though and drew Prim's attention.

"Lucas, is your shoulder okay?"

He rolled his eyes as if the questions was annoying. Of course she didn't know. Of course, because he hadn't told her. "Prim it's fine. Don't worry about it. You did a good job."

"We're gonna get out of here Lucas. We both made promises and we're going to figure this out." Lucas nodded to her words thought he couldn't quite decide if he believe them or not. The situation was starting to look more and more hopeless. If either of them made it out it was going to be more of a fight. The one that wouldn't make it out would be dead somewhere being prepared for their funeral back in their hometown.

The two of them fell asleep still apart from each other. For once, the rain forest was silent. It was as if the flood had wiped out all the predators and left behind only the surviving tributes. Lucas couldn't stay asleep for very long his shoulder was bothering him more than ever so he sat closer to the exit from their little safe house. With a quiet release of air one of the doors that let the hover bike through opened. Lucas waited and waited just watching the spot. There never was a hover-bike that made an appearance. The door stayed open for hours and hours. Lucas never went to sleep as he watched it. A blue-white light shone out from him promising a safe return to a world of technology. It teased him really but he never went close. What was the Game Keeper doing?

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><p><strong>Sincerely,<strong>

**wisegirlindisguise**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello citizens of Panem! It's a big, big, big day! It's time to get your dose of the Hunger Games. You know the rules. Schools are shut down, as are businesses. It is now your job to watch and learn from the games. Do not rebel. This is what happens to rebels. **

**-President Markkus**

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><p>When morning finally made an appearance, Lucas roused himself from their hiding spot under the tree. They had already used the hiding space before and were happy with staying there again. It was cozy and kept the space at a nice temperature even if the weather didn't fluctuate much at all. That wasn't meant to be one of the challenges of the Game Keeper though. They had found other ways to challenge the tributes.<p>

The unfortunate piece of all of it was that the children were a challenge in themselves. Hormones, friendship, fear; they all came into account. From the very beginning of their childhood they were taught about the Hunger Games. They learned about what had happened to all that went into the arena. Lucas had been through all of the lessons and graduated. When all of the current Hunger Games went down he had been planning to go into the Peace Keeper Academy as a finishing school. Unfortunately, they had denied him any entrance into the school because of his shoulder. The hindrance that never left him alone. Those memories that never left him alone.

Lucas didn't want to let those memories in, but he couldn't seem to stop them as he carefully moved around the brush, back tracking to the spot where he had seen the doors not too long ago. They had been pushed back so far that it would take a while to get back to that point. He didn't dare go near the one that was sitting open next to their safe house. Something about it made his skin crawl, so he stayed away from it. The danger then was the memories that seeped into his head with the pain from his shoulder.

He and his mom had been in their car headed back to their house from District 1. She had business to handle in the Luxury district and was not willing to leave Lucas home alone so she brought the ten year-old with her.

Lucas still remembered her face because his mom had always been the one around when his dad was working on different things inside the Peace Keepers association that he was close to running. She had dark brown hair but she had these gorgeous green eyes that seemed like they would have been Capitol mutt eyes, but they were her natural color. Her friends tried to get her to slip up about some procedure to make her eyes so green in the capitol. No such luck.

Gale always blamed himself for the death of Lucas' mom though in truth it really wasn't his fault. It was District 6. They were in charge of transportation and they should have had the problem fixed before they opened the bridge. They should have made the road wider. They could have done something, and then none of this would have happened.

Lucas was trying to sing along to a song he didn't know the words to and he was making his mom laugh hysterically. All of the sudden she gasped and cut the wheel sharply to the right sending her side of the car toward the oncoming truck. Roads were no new concept they had used them to get many places before the storms and fires that forced Panem together. They couldn't fix this though. What happened, no one could fix. Lucas remembered scream at his mom as the headlights drew closer like eyes of a beast coming in for the kill. He was cut silent with the impact.

The doctors told him how brave his mom had been. She had saved his life, they would tell him. She was his savior. He didn't want her to be. He wanted her to be there holding his hand and brushing the hair from his face. He wanted her not them. He didn't want his father either who could only sit next to him and leave his head in his hands as he held back the tears to be tough for his little boy.

At the time, Lucas thought that his father was heartless. It took years for him to realize that he had been trying to protect him from seeing someone broken down that they couldn't function. Gale had stopped going to work though and was always around. He was up making breakfast for Lucas before waking up was even an idea to Lucas. Then he was there cooking dinner when he came home. For a while, Gale didn't care what Lucas was up to; as long as he was happy. Lucas would leave the house early and would come back well after the set meal time. Lucas decided when he wanted to grow up and when he did life started again.

If Lucas came back from the Games, he was going to get a job as a mechanic around District 2. He had been promised the job before he even found out about the games and was completely willing to take it on. It would give him something to do. He would have something to tinker with. Before he left for President Markkus' idea of a party he had also planned surgery for his shoulder. Gale was going to pay for it and then he would see if the Academy would take him. If not, mechanic. His life had finally gotten easy and now he was sneaking along a jungle looking for signs of a door that led into the obviously hollow innards of the arena.

Lucas was about to take another step when he notice a clear wall. It was slightly tinted purple so that everyone would know where it stood. The people watching on their screens at home and those of the tributes left alive in the arena. There was no river between him and the wall though. It was right there a couple feet in front of him. "Shit..." Lucas muttered taking a few leaves from a vine at his feet. He threw them at the purple wall and the leaves disintegrated. Lucas looked past the field at the land beyond. All of it looked like it had been burned down by fire and was just lumps and piles of ash. The flood on that side seemed to have never happened.

This was the Game Keepers idea. He was going corral all the tributes closer together with no hope of going back out farther. The silver lining to his situation was small because all that meant was that there were no more crocodiles or alligators. The cloud that surrounded that silver lining pulsed with power. He couldn't get to the doors he had seen earlier. All of the tributes were closer, including the five surviving tributes that had formed a pack.

"NO!" Lucas turned to find where the voice was coming from but he couldn't see anyone. Someone was screaming, but not at him. All of the sudden there were two cannon fires. Two? Lucas searched his mind trying to figure out what was going on, but he didn't have time for that. He needed to get back into hiding. He took off back the way he came making sure his feet stayed silent as he went.

He hadn't realized at the time that the cannon fire was the death of two of the careers from the back. Meagan from District 9 had known what the force field would do when something touched it and had shoved PJ from District 8 into the force field sending him to his death. Shannon had retaliated for the death of her counterpart and shot Meagan then and there.

Shannon then faced the two other survivors in their pack and pointed her gun at them. "You turn on me and you both go down. Betrayal means death, understand?" she snapped and the two nodded. There was no question that, if it came down to it, Shannon would win. Emma and Owen from District 7 only had a set of throwing knives and a bow and arrow. Shannon could swing around her gun happily with the silencer on it to keep the noise from reaching the other tributes in the arena. She was the danger in the arena. With a look into her eyes one could see that with the death of her partner insanity was setting in.

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><p>Lucas took a deep breath as he settled back into their little hide out. The door was still open and sitting there like a tease just waiting for someone to walk up and test the possibilities of escape. Lucas crawled into their safe house sitting just inside the entrance. He moved the camouflage he had created before he left to cover the entrance to their hideout. He would sit on guard now. He drew his knife and settled in only looking at Prim for a moment to make sure she was still sleeping there.<p>

There was no sign of anyone close so he allowed himself to just sit there for a while. When Prim did wake up she crawled up from her spot to sit across from Lucas. "Good morning," she whispered since they were so used to talking in hushed tones. Lucas looked over at her and nodded as if that was his only return. "How long have you been up?" Prim wondered as she looked over their small food supply. Plenty of water, but almost no food. The honey and some bread.

"Long enough to walk around and be back before you woke up." Prim looked at him like she was about to protest about the danger in that act, but Lucas held up a hand stopping her. "I've gone hunting too, Prim. I was walking around and the field keeping us stuck in here has moved. We can't go back out to where the river was and if you touch the field it burns you."

Prim took it into account and then she looked at him a little more skeptically. "What were you looking for?" she wondered as she curled up into herself to keep warm. Her clothes were still somewhat wet and needed to be dried out soon before she began to chafe or catch something from the chill.

"One of those," Lucas motioned to the door with his drawn knife. The view led out to where the door was open sitting there like a test to them.

"When did that open?" Prim demanded glaring at him as if he had kept a huge secret. For a moment she let her temper get to her that she had gotten from her mother; she managed to shove it back though. He had let her sleep and knew that it was really of no worry to her as long as it stayed there. "Never mind Lucas," Prim looked back to the door where she weighed the possibilities.

So many people had been upset by the idea of another Hunger Games. It disgusted so many of them that she started to wonder how many of the people in the Capitol itself were looking to revolt against the idea of the Games ever coming up again. As she sat there and looked at that way out she thought maybe that the possibility was there. She crawled out of their hiding spot with Lucas struggling to follow her.

"What are you doing?" He demanded grabbing her arm with his good arm. "We are not going near that thing until someone else tried going close to it first." Lucas searched her eyes for some sign that she understood his fear, but he couldn't seem to find that. There was a determination in her eyes that didn't come near the world of surrender. "Primrose, don't you dare."

"Lucas, what if it's a way out?" Prim demanded. They were both starting to raise their voice which wasn't going to help their situation at all. They were all closer now and there was no way they could get farther away. They were trapped. Lucas had already told her that. Why was she doing this? Why was she risking it? "The Game Keeper might be on our side. He might want us to get out. The Game Keeper probably knows we're innocent, that our parents our innocent. We might be able to walk out right now!"

"This person running this show is not on our side! Dammit Prim! It's a game! They want us to go after it. They want us to have ideas planted in our heads that someone out there is on our side. No one is on our side! You go near that thing and you don't know what happens!" Prim looked at him with wide eyes. Ash had yelled at her like this, but Lucas? Lucas never seemed the type, but Prim guessed that everyone was the type when it came down to it. "Get back in to the safe house." Prim stood defiant until Lucas moved closer towering over her. He had let go of her arm, but just the look in his eyes could send someone to insanity. "Now."

Prim moved back into the tree and Lucas swapped out his knife for his gun. He pulled the camouflage into place and set himself up so that he could see through certain holes of the mesh. While he sat there he used his knife to cut chunk off a fruit that looked like a black apple which was the name he knew it by. He ate chunks of it and squeezed small portions of honey onto each piece to make it a little sweeter. Prim sat against the back wall and used a stray stone to try and sharpen her dagger's blade while she picked at the same fruit and had some bread though her meal wasn't as pleasant because she had refused to sit and eat with Lucas who had the honey. It could have been making her blade worse in actuality; she could have cared less though. It gave her something to do and that's all she wanted. It looked like they would be sitting there safe for a while.

Near nightfall they headed out into the woods. The visibility at sunset made it a little easier to move through the woods unseen. Near midnight when the anthem began to play they took off. They ran at full speed back to their hideout and slipped back in before the anthem ended. They went unheard. They used their jackets they were given going in to the Games to cover the way in so that when their watches lit up no one would see it. Prim spent the last bit of light crossing off the names of the fallen. There were seven of them left in the arena. Lucas spent that last bit of light without the light of his watch. He left it in the back of the tree's cavern and moved closer to the door where he looked for any other light from watches on other tributes.

Nothing. Their competition was not going to be stupid when Lucas hoped for it. Either that or they were still far enough away to be unseen. Lucas settled back into his spot from earlier taking over the guard for the night. It wasn't that he didn't trust Prim. He trusted Prim with his life. The question was now if it was one's own life and curiosity that got them in trouble. Unfortunately, no matter how much he wanted to protect her Lucas fell asleep on the job and Prim was up just watching him waiting for him to fall asleep.

When he did Prim got up carefully. She walked up to him and carefully pulled his gun from his hold. She checked the clip for ammo and then loaded it again as quietly as possible. The click of it made Lucas twitch and he crossed his arms over his chest and turned his chin towards his good shoulder. Prim found a cruel smile that bloom across her lips that no one could see in the darkness of their hiding spot. On the screens at home Peeta was watching her. Gavin was asleep with his head against his father's leg. School was canceled for the games as ordered by President Markkus. The stores were closed too which left Peeta and Gavin home alone to watch Prim struggle. He shook his head as he watched her. He may not have liked Gale but his son was no idiot. She should have listened to Lucas, but she didn't.

Prim moved the camouflage out of the way and began to move toward the door taking a couple steps and looking around to make sure no one was there. Her breath moved into the air and disappeared all together. Anyone out there would never have realized she was there. The cameras had all gone into night vision and she was a shade of green. Her eyes were bright against her surroundings. Then another pare of bright orbs made it onto the screen.

"Prim," Lucas stumbled to his feet struggling with the use of only one arm. She took off immediately in a dead sprint straight for the door that still shone with a clean almost hospital like light. "Prim, no!" Lucas shouted and all the screens at home went white as an explosion filled the arena where Lucas and Prim were. Lucas fell to the ground covering his face, but as soon as debris stopped flying he was trying to get to his feet and ran toward where Prim had fallen. Spots were in his vision and no matter how many times he blinked they waited to clear.

Lucas ripped off his sling and used both arms to drag her back to their safe spot. She was writhing in pain and almost got out of his arms until he started to move faster. "Prim you have to stay quiet," Lucas whispered to her. The shock of what happened was about to fade and soon the pain would begin to overrun her commonsense. He got her inside the tree's base and moved the camouflage into place as she began to scream. Lucas put a hand over her mouth looking around wildly. "Prim, Prim..." she didn't seem to hear. "Primrose, listen to me!" She seemed to calm down but he didn't move his hand. "You have to stay quiet. I need you to tell me what to do. There are a lot of explosions in your District, right?" She nodded. "Okay, tell me what to do." He lifted his hand and she shuddered making her whole body shake.

"Shrapnel, little pieces of debris. You have to get them out," She moved uncomfortably and arched her back as another wave of pain seemed to hit her.

Lucas looked around for something he could use. Tweezers, something. There was nothing. Then a huge silver beetle crawled his way and when he was about to dismiss it, it settled to the ground. Its legs pulled in and the head pulled in as well. The wings on the back of the beetle parted exposing tweezers. Was this all he got? Was this all his sponsors could afford? He said it to no one in particular, but the first few words were not kind, "...you're all a bunch of soulless fools. This is Markkus' doing. Not ours..."

Lucas pulled the short sleeves off his shirt and used half of one to fill Prim's mouth. He had to keep her quiet. He had no painkillers for her and was about to dig into her skin with a pair of crap tweezers from the heartless folks of Panem. "I'm so sorry Prim..." he whispered and began work.

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><p>Lucas had his gun tucked into his waistline at the small of his back as he knelt near the giant puddle that had been there since the flood. He washed off the tweezers and set them on the ground. Then he submerged his hands in the murky water. What used to be a couple shades of brown and green became red. The spots were cleared from his vision but every now and then he would blink uncomfortably as if dislodging the last bit of dirt and dust. The night had been a terrible scene from the worst of medical disasters, but he was sure that he got most of the shrapnel out. Surprisingly there wasn't much.<p>

Lucas stood tall and looked around as he stretched. No one would come near the disaster zone so they should have been safe for a couple days. The doors to freedom had closed once again and had caused all sorts of trouble. Luckily, Primrose had gone right to sleep when some of the pain subsided. They didn't have any jackets to cover their doorway at night anymore since he had used those as bandaging. The bottoms of his pants were gone as well so now he was in shorts.

He told himself it could have been worse. Lucas wasn't sure if it could have though. When there was a sound off to the side Lucas pulled his gun and pointed it toward the noise. When the animal came out confusion passed over Lucas' features. A deer? Food was the first thought that crossed Lucas' mind and then he thought better. A gunshot helped no one, not them and not the deer. The only person it would benefit would be the tributes trying to track them.

When another noise entered his hearing range he whipped toward it afraid it was a tribute that had tracked the deer. It was Prim. She was still holding onto the tree as if letting go meant her death. "Lucas?" she called out putting herself in danger if Lucas hadn't been there. Lucas walked towards her in her direct line of vision. "Lucas?" she called again. When she caught the sound of his footsteps she sighed in relief before worry passed her features. "Lucas, I can't see."

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><p><strong>Sorry all. My feed was somehow interrupted by our President. I'm very sorry. The Game Keeper should be able to hold the feed now. He seems to know I'm up to my old tricks. Be safe my mockingjays, be safe. <strong>

**Sincerely,**

**wisegirlindisguise**


	11. Chapter 11

**My signal is going in and out! Bare with me! Though the Game Keeper is supposed to have control I'm losing it! **

**I'm sorry I can't stay with you my mockingjays... **

**_This is President Markkus. Welcome back to the Hunger Games. We have many exciting twist and turns for you today. I hope you all are smart and have followed the rules. If so, the odds will always be in your favor. _  
><strong>

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><p>Lucas ran up to Prim leading her back inside. "Don't do that. We don't want people to find us." Lucas kept his voice down as he sat her down. She nodded as if she understood. Prim wasn't freaking out which he was happy for. If she had been extremely panicked Lucas was sure there would be no way for him to calm her down enough to allow them both to get out of the arena unscathed.<p>

"Lucas, why can't I see?" Prim went back to her hushed tone and faced him with blank eyes. They didn't hone in on his features. They couldn't even really find his eyes. It seemed like the blackness spiraled for light just searching for it so that she could make out the blur that her eyes claimed to be seeing. Her pupils couldn't adjust though.

"Prim, it could be shrapnel. It could have been the light from the explosion." Lucas sat down next to her and she followed the noise turning toward him. "You could hear that?" He asked looking at her out of respect though he didn't need to, that was obvious. She just shrugged though. She wasn't sure what was going to happen, but she wasn't going to jeopardize Lucas' survival. The fact that she heard him step carefully to sit next to her was just from what her mom had taught her while hunting. It was all something she had learned before, to survive by ear. The best predators she wouldn't be able see which meant she needed to be able to hear them.

Lucas and Prim sat in silence for a long time just thinking. Their trains of thought seem to run perpendicular only intersecting at one point: Lucas' survival. Lucas thought it over and over in his head: How was he going to take the knowledge of the doors to his advantage? How could he get out unseen? The both of them needed to get out and it needed to happen soon. The possibility of Prim's survival was now lowered farther than anyone would like.

Prim knew that too. The idea that she would get anywhere close to surviving was depleting and fast. She had to figure out some way to make Lucas leave her behind. That way he would be able to get out, and if not get out, win. That way he could go home to his father who was so utterly alone as far as Prim could see. He only had Lucas. At least Peeta and Katniss would have Gavin who would keep there spirits up when need be. Katniss had always said that Gavin was more like Prim's namesake than anyone. He could be the one to protect them from everything, couldn't he?

Neither of them would mention their plans to the other that day though. They didn't want to start a fight between each other and cause mayhem where they didn't need it. The art of survival was becoming a dying art and they had to renew it. With all of their competitors at equaled grounds when it came to skill the odds would not be in their favor. How to defeat those odds was a mystery one that Lucas was looking forward to cracking and one that prim was leaning towards giving into.

Lucas stood and Prim ducked her had down until he put his hand on her shoulder. "We have to collect food and I want you to come with me," he whispered. Prim was about to shake her head when he spoke again, "You don't have a choice." She was pulled to her feet and the two walked out into the minimal light. Lucas could see the puddle where he had just washed his hands. The forest stretched around them so entirely enveloping that one would be afraid, but all Prim could see was a green blur that swirled around her until she was dizzy. The only thing that anchored her was the dark color of Lucas' shirt where she reached for him desperately. "I've got you," he assured her as he guided her hand to his arm. They only had to avoid seven people. That's all they needed. "Stay close."

Prim huffed a small laugh as if his words were a joke, but he meant it more of a precaution because as soon as they moved into the woods that steps became a little more difficult. They moved over large roots that threatened to pull them down, but as soon as they made it to the force field it was a little easier. They things that didn't quite make it to safety were scorched and had burned up to a point where it almost made a path around the whole outside before it went into the dense forest. Prim walked closer to the forest though so that there was no possibility that she wouldn't veer into the pain of burning with the wall that taunted them by closing them in closer to their enemies.

After about an hour of walking they both sat down and had a small break where they cut open one of the black apples and spread honey on it. They ate in silence for the longest time just letting the world move around them while they pretended not to notice. Lucas took a huge gulp from their water jug. Prim listened as the water squished against the plastic and then the plastic crunched where there was nothing to keep it out like sucking on an empty water bottle. Half way through his glug Prim spoke up, "I'm sorry Lucas. I should've listened. Now you're stuck with toting me around. If I had just listened to you I would be like this. Then both of us would get out-"

"Both of us are getting out Prim," Lucas put down the bottle as quietly as possible.

"I doubt there's going to be an opportunity where both of us are going to get out of here safely. I'm too much of a risk. Plus, now that I can't see I'm not going to be as quiet. I'm going to be the easy target." Prim rushed it out and Lucas just shook his head. "You can get out though. You can win!" Prim tried to put that bright side to it but Lucas still couldn't quite see how that would be any sort of accomplishment. They either both get out, or they both fail. That's what friends were. They couldn't be just allies and allow the tactics to get in the way. They needed that stronger bond.

"Stop talking like that Prim. We both need to get out of here. If I get out, you're getting out too-"

She shushed him and he shook his head.

"I'm not going to be quiet, you have to hear this. You can't honestly believe that I would leave you in here and be happy without trying my hardest."

"No, shutup," Prim moved forward using the smallest bit of her vision she could to find his face. With spending so much time with him she was able to cover his mouth and knock him to the ground. The fell into the taller weeds and fell out of vision as two tributes walked by only yards away. They were holding hands and the girl was wearing dog tags around her neck that didn't have her name on them. Lucas laid there with Prim lying on his chest as he listened to their words:

"I thought I heard someone up here," the girl said but the boy didn't seem to agree.

"It's okay Odessa. I don't think anyone would come this close to the wall. They're going to start hunting each other farther in." Odessa, the girl, was pulled into his arms and he held her there allowing themselves to relax. "We haven't found sign of anyone in days. Chances are, no one even realizes we're still alive. They probably aren't even keeping track of us." That wasn't true which meant he only had false security on his side. Prim had a list of every name in her pocket. Prim and Lucas knew every person that was still standing in the arena and that was alive.

"You're probably right." Odessa leaned her head against his shoulder and relaxed into his hold though she knew that he was only telling her things to make her feel better. "Linus, if we're the last people standing, do you think that the President will do what he did last time?"

"If they do send mutts after us we'll survive it. We'll survive whatever they throw at us." Linus said it with determination as if he knew they would survive no matter what.

Last time, Prim knew, meant the time that Katniss and Peeta were stuck in the arena. The last three knew that they were the only ones left and the only one that wanted death was the guy that was very much alone. Then it was just Peeta and Katniss. They were going to find some way to flush out the last two or three whether they were lovers or enemies. The entertainment factor would always have to stand. They would do anything for the ratings and excitement and that meant anything. Just like President Snow, President Markkus would give no mercy.

Lucas shifted and made the slightest noise. The couple looked around releasing each other form their enduring hold. The two bolted off like deer that just heard a noise and were gone within seconds. Prim sat up when their footsteps faded and fell back onto her butt to take a seat. Lucas sat up and gathered their things. He didn't want to have to review the conversation with her and he didn't have the energy to do so. They had enough fruits packed in the backpack they had gotten from one of the fallen tributes to last them a few days and they needed to get back to their tree before they ran into anyone else. Lucas pulled Prim to her feet and he grabbed her wrist leading her back toward their safe house.

"Lucas-"

"Prim, please, let's not and say we did. We're not focusing on that right now." Lucas tried to keep the demand out of his voice, but he couldn't. Prim was going to try and find more reasons for Lucas to leave her behind and he wasn't going to allow that. No matter how much it made sense to her, it didn't to him. He had promised Katniss that she would see Prim again outside of the arena. He had already failed at keeping her safe. Couldn't he just get her out of the arena now?

Lucas got them back and went to guard their safe house while she slept. As soon as she was sound asleep he slipped out into the night and went to the puddle. He used the mud and some of the greener looking fungus around it to create camouflage on his whole body before moving farther out into the woods towards where the other tributes would be waiting to strike at their competitors.

With the camouflage and the need to blend in Lucas had left his gun back at the safe house. The only weapon he had on him was his knife which was strapped to the inside of thigh. Lucas moved between the trees making sure to stick close to the trunks. He had used a very similar camouflage scheme to the one the boy had used to attack them and he hadn't even been seen until he grabbed Lucas. He could only hope he looked similar to that. That way he could probably get back to their camp unharmed.

Lucas found a peculiar part of the forest floor that was mostly vines. They were coiled up in some spots, but the general look of it reminded Lucas of the size of one of the doors. He knelt down next to some of the vines and unsheathed his knife. When he pressed the knife to the ground and tried to cut through the vines it barely made a dent. He sighed in frustration and pulled the knife back. With all the force he could muster he stabbed at the ground. When it made it through the soft ground it clanged against something metallic sending the noise through the air.

"Shit," he muttered and scrambled to his feet as he heard someone come toward the noise. He pressed himself up against a tree and closed his eyes until the noise stopped. The person had stopped in the clearing and was looking around though not as carefully as the girl should have been. Lucas opened his eyes knowing the darkness would do some of the work for him when it came to hiding.

He recognized her. Her name was Shannon and she was one of the careers that had seemed to untouchable. There she was. If he just lunged at her maybe he could... _No, I'm not here for that. _He stopped himself and forced himself to just watch until she passed. Her watch was starting to glow faintly which meant the anthem was about to come on. Lucas didn't have his watch on. She was long gone by the time the anthem started and Lucas used the deafening noise to his advantage. He searched with his knife through the song until he found the groove to the door. He began to cut slicing out the shape of the door from the ground until the whole door was exposed. He looked at it over and over until he decided that the only way to get it open was for someone to die.

Lucas looked around and then carved a simply triangle into one of the trees so that he would know where this door was. Lucas then collected himself and his ideas and headed back out toward their safe house. He was about half way back the way he had just traveled and came to the force field. "What the hell!" Lucas about screamed. He quieted himself quickly and then listened carefully. No there was no cannon fire. That meant that wherever Prim was, it wasn't back in the tree. So where was she? And where would she wander off to if she couldn't see where she was going. Lucas turned back to the forest and without a moment to consider what he was doing he started screaming, "Prim! "

Prim was stumbling through the woods with her watch still warning them off the movement of the force field. She had left her bow and arrow and found Lucas' gun though it wouldn't do much good in her hands. She was breathing heavy from running as she had heard the forest behind her burning alive. She finally found a place she considered safe and sat down just to take a breath. She took inventory with her hands because the dark left what she had left of vision useless. She had the backpack that was packed with the water bottle, their food, and a knife, and then she had Lucas' gun. She didn't have Lucas though. Where had he gone? How coul dhe just leave her alone like that?

She didn't dare cry out as she sat there. Chances that she would be found were probably more likely now than ever. The tributes that had already moved toward the center would be looking on the outskirts for the people that had just run in, but there was no cannon fire which meant no one had been found yet. They were all still safe even if all only meant Prim, Lucas, Odessa, and Linus. They had made it in from the outskirts.

"Look what we have here," it was clearly a girl's voice and she had been on the hunt. Her steps had been silent as well as the rest of her until she spoke. Prim jumped and then sunk back against the tree as much as possible. "Oh, did you run into some trouble Prim? Poor baby built for the Hunger Games got beat by the Game Keeper didn't she?" To Prim, this girl sounded out of her mind. She was talking as if Prim had been the most dangerous person out there until now. Now, this girl had her pinned. So why didn't she just kill her?

What fun was that? You catch the biggest game and you're going to put them down easy? Not a chance. Not in her state of mind at least.

"Prim!" Her name was being called from far off, but the girl didn't seem to notice. Prim fumbled slowly with the gun in her hands until she had it steady resting in her palm the correct way. The girl that had cornered her and was pacing. Prim couldn't tell by the scuffle of her feet. "Prim!" He was closer now. "Prim! Where are you?" He was getting closer yet, but Prim would probably have to fire before he got there.

"Maybe the other tributes will cheer and then the real games will begin. It'll be just like the old Hunger Games!" The girl said maniacally as she went swinging her own gun around through the air as if it were a prop. "It'll be tributes fighting tributes instead of tributes hunting and finding the kill, you." She turned but now there were two people there. A boy covered heavily in mud and other things to keep him camouflaged and Prim. The girl let off one fire though it went wide right.

Prim's bones were shaking and all of the sudden his hand was on hers steady the gun. "Fire now!" He shouted. She pulled the trigger and the bullet went between the girls eyes and she fell to the ground. As soon as Prim heard the bullet sink home she dropped the gun leaving a burn on her leg from the barrel and then she curled up unable to stop the tears from fear. Lucas held her close and looked around at the space just outside the force field while the body of Shannon, the head Career laid there as their kill. And the cannon fired.

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><p><em><strong>I hope you enjoyed today's installment of the Hunger Games. You will tune in tomorrow and see what happens to our six remaining tributes. <strong>_

**_Lovingly, Your Ruler, _**

**_President Markkus _**


	12. Chapter 12

**I won't be with you much longer, but I need you to know that the Games will carry on. I will just not be holding the reigns any longer. I'm sorry. **

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><p>Katniss watched Prim and Lucas as they sat silently in the woods. Lucas was using his knife to fix up two sticks precariously and Prim was shaking. Katniss looked to the folks around her. They had all fallen asleep, all of them. They had demanded that they mentor their own kids and they were dead to the world! Anger boiled under her skin. This was ridiculous. She was sure even Haymitch hadn't fallen asleep when he was assisting her. He had no need to feel any responsibility for her, but he stayed awake.<p>

Before she could do something rash in the cramped little room, Katniss got up and headed around the building carrying a touchscreen pad to keep track of Prim. Gale was around there somewhere doing the same. He had long since left the room annoyed with the Games completely and the parents that continued to harass Katniss. She had waited though, and she continued to wait until the snores of the parents began to get to her. Now, she was headed for the Game Maker's door to see if she was still up.

She peaked through the cracked door and the Game Maker was sitting there with her feet up and her head leaned back asleep. Part of Katniss wanted to kill her, right then, for injuring her daughter so intensely. She lowered the survival rate for Prim so low that it became an impossibility. She couldn't do that though. Katniss had to stay out of jail to watch over Prim. So she turned away from the Game Maker and moved her intention back to her touchscreen.

"Make your move now, Lucas."

Lucas handed Prim one of the sticks he had finished and told her to bite down. He was counting on most people being asleep no matter if people could review it the next day. If they could be clueless for once it would be capitol. He just needed a little confusion to go out and then he had a chance of his plan working. A silver beetle walked up to him and settled down opening up to show a stitches kit. When one walked up to Prim and showed a small amount of numbing medicine Lucas smirked. They were all asleep. Now was his time.

The knife turned in his hand and Lucas took it gingerly before pressing the blade to her arm. She seemed shocked at first, but she knew it was coming. Prim didn't fight back as he sliced open her arm. He used the tweezers from the previous injury to removed a small little ball that shone in the moonlight. That was Prim's tracker. He set the tracker carefully on a leaf he had specifically put down and then used the syringe to shoot a clear liquid into the wound on Prim's arm. She winced almost rejecting the medicine but he had a hold on her arm. Once it kicked in he used the needle and thread to sew her up. They'd have to find time to make sure these wounds stayed clean, but it would be worth it.

He started work on his own arm without telling her and was done before she started asking questions. He started to sew up his own arm when Prim began to get restless. She fidgeted in her seat and held her arm desperately as if hugging it would stop the pain. It did no such thing, but Lucas wouldn't burst that bubble for Prim. When he was done he washed away the blood with some of their water and did the same for Prim.

"Okay Prim," Lucas whispered looking around every few seconds though Prim's ears would catch anything before he saw it, "we have to go into the fight toward everyone else."

"Lucas, are you nuts?" Prim hissed. Katniss and Gale who were sitting next to each other on the ground outside the mentor room both shook their heads. Lucas wasn't crazy. He actually knew exactly what he was doing. It was like getting lost in a crowd. As long as they could start something between some other tributes they could go unnoticed. That's what they needed.

"We have to Prim, and we have to get there tonight. Come on," Lucas stood and gathered there things. He was careful with his arm and he made sure to be careful with Prim's as well. He collected their trackers slipping them into his pocket before they started sliding farther into the arena.

They moved with almost silent steps. Their weight was spread evenly never breaking the brush that laid across the rain forest floor. It took them a solid twenty minutes before they came up on a camp for two people. It looked like the remaining careers were the ones occupying the space because the only other group of two was somewhere together thinking on what to do after being kicked out of their outskirts lands like Prim and Lucas.

Lucas had Prim lay down and he carefully camouflaged her with the mud and other things around them. With her eyes closed she seemed to disappear. When Lucas did convince her she could sleep she fell into sleeps hold easily. Lucas sat against the tree still camouflaged easily with his surroundings. He waited patiently until the two came back. They settled in to sleep for the night barely speaking to each other. When they did it was about Shannon's death. It was the girl and the boy from District 7 and they had the silencer off of Shannon's gun and the gun which they had found in the woods. With Shannon's face already shown in the sky the previous night they knew it was hers.

When the silencer made it into a backpack they two simply tucked themselves and fell asleep as if there was no need to hide. They were being cocky. They didn't see any reason not to be. Who would attack the last two Careers? In every way, they felt they were completely superior over the other four in the arena. Together, they had a chance, but Lucas didn't intend on them staying together for too much longer.

Lucas pulled himself from his spot and moved into their camp. Silently, he moved the weapons around so that the boy had all the weapons in his back, but he slipped the silencer off of Shannon's gun and pocketed it. This was all they needed. Once the fight started between the two the cameras would be trained on the surviving careers.

With all the stealth he had Lucas went back to Prim and carefully pulled her back to consciousness. He moved his lips right to her ear barely breathing the words. "Let's move," as they were about to leave Lucas dropped the trackers from his pocket into the brush. Then he and Prim moved out and the cameras left them alone for the first time since they entered the arena.

Gale smiled and Katniss looked at him confused as their children disappeared off the screen. "Why are you smiling?" She demanded looking at the screen and then him. "We can't see them anymore."

"Katniss, if we can't see them no one else can." Gale tried to convince her that this was a good thing. "All those cameras in the arena are not man powered. They follow the trackers and only keep track of the tributes. There is no rogue camera magically floating through the woods." Katniss slowly started to understand and smiled along with Gale. They were gonna be fine.

Prim and Lucas settled into a tree not far from where the door Lucas had found was. Lucas sighed as Prim fell asleep with her head on his thigh. There was only so much surviving left and they were slowly getting closer to it. They just had to get the door to open and then they could disappear into the innards of the arena. The question now was only how they would get that to happen.

In the capitol President Markkus was watching the morning wake up. His favorites form District 7 were fighting over the stealing of weapons and the cameras kept switching between each of them. The girl rolled her eyes at him and then grabbed her back along with her knives before heading off into the woods. She didn't care for her steps or how noisy they were. She had nothing to hide. Hah, who was coming near her? She had knives that she could throw and most likely make her mark.

Out of nowhere someone grabbed her arms and she was forced to her knees almost immediately. Her knees slid hard against the dirt as she turned to face to the right of her original path. A boy walked towards her and he threw a knife at her getting her in the heart. Markkus cursed knowing there was no surviving that. His Careers were dying! He had given all of them the weapons they wanted and extra food hidden in the arena tactfully for them to find. They hadn't finished off either of the two he had sent them in there after.

The cannon fired on the screen and the boy from District 7 turned toward where his counterpart had vanished. "Emma?" He shouted. When there was no answer he backed up a few steps. There was a sound of rustling off to the side and he took off without a second thought. He convinced himself Emma wasn't hunting him for the fun of it because now Owen was on his own. He ran and ran until he was sure no one was following him. As he scaled his way up into a tree he listened for anyone following him. Nothing. Owen sat down and loaded his bow aiming down at the base of tree because anyone who would want to get him would have to get closer to him and he would take them down by then.

Back where Emma had been taken down Linus was collecting the throwing knives from the body. "Linus, how many are left?" Odessa wondered as she wiped off the the splattered blood from the girl.

"Us, Owen Rhiner, Primrose Mellark, and Lucas Hawthorne," he answered quietly as they started away from the body. When they were the measured distance away they whipped around and Linus threw a knife at the bike that had capture the body. It swerved like it had been knocked askew but then it fixed its course and carried on through the door. "No one on the bikes," he noted as he went back to get his knife and then rejoin Odessa.

"So we only have three more to go?" Odessa wondered as she started to pop her fingers as they went. Linus laid his hand over hers to stop her shaking his head. "It's a nervous habit," was as far as her apology went.

"Don't be nervous. Three more is just like the rest of them." Linus tried to assure her that everything would be find. They had already gone in there with so much on their side. Odessa and Linus had met at the Peace Keepers Training A (PKTA) and she had been a hand to hand combat instructor and he had been a student. Both of their parents had been apart of the rebellion and they had helped each other out. Even though she wasn't a Peace Keeper, she could've been. They were both highly trained and together as a pair their kill list was fifteen long. "We've got this." The two high-fived and then headed out into the woods to search for Prim and Lucas along with Owen the last surviving career.

Markkus called down to the Game Maker's room and talked to her on the phone: "Where are Prim and Lucas?" Markkus demanded as he glared at the screen wishing the TV would catch fire.

"I'll find them, give me a minute," she said it completely relaxed though the truth was she had just woken up and couldn't see them on all the screens in the control room. She flipped through the different views and at all the cameras. She even checked the overhead camera that they used to show the whole arena in the morning. She used the birds eyes to look over the arena in its entirety, but they were nowhere to be found. "President Markkus," she said as she took him off hold, "I can't see them anywhere."

"You lost tributes in the arena!" He screamed into the phone and then took a deep breath pinching the bridge of his nose. "You have half and hour to find all of them and report to me where they are, Iris."

He slams down the phone and she immediately goes to work. She check all the cameras again and again and then sends out a small beetle of her own that blends in with the rest of the wild life. The only issue with the tactic was she only had thirty minutes. These kids were smart and they aren't going to get caught, Iris decides. So she hit the button on her controller that destroys the rogue beetle and at the twenty nine minute mark she kneels on the ground putting her hands behind her head and prepares herself.

The Peace Keepers push into the room and grab her. They cuff her wrist behind her back and lead her out of the room to meet Markkus face to face in the hallway. He tells her about her sentence. Iris has failed the country of Panem and therefore failed its people. She has lost tributes in the arena and will be setenced to sit in a holding cell there below the arena until the Hunger Games are over. Then her arrest will be announced. Just like that it becomes well known around the arena and among its mentors that two tributes have disappeared from the Hunger Games without dying.

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><p><em><strong>Hello citizens, I have the reigns. I am the new Game Maker as of now. Thank you for joining me in the Games. I'm sure we'll find our Tributes. You will see tomorrow. <strong>_

**_Superiorly yours,_**

**_President Markkus_**


	13. Chapter 13

**This is Iris. I'm sorry for losing you earlier. I will attempt to make contact this way via computer. I will try and try to stay with you, but the connection I've hacked may only last so long. **

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><p>Prim sat quietly with her hands on the ground. She felt for any movement in the ground. Now they were in survival mode. The thought of a silver little beetle popping up and settling down with what they needed was nonexistent. It was all up to Prim and Lucas, and with Prim's...condition...Lucas was, a lot of the time, on his own. Prim was actually alone at the moment, hidden under a tree. Lucas was out planting clues to their whereabouts. They were determined to lead their adversaries astray until it was time to get them out of the arena as well. First, they had to get out of the arena themselves.<p>

She was still covered completely in camouflaged and was sitting comfortably under the tree. Her fingers were cool buried under the dirt. With her eyes closed she was able to pretend like she still had her vision. The darkness was still the same behind her eyelids. She could still feel that same touch of the dirt between her fingers. She could still hear that same buzz of everything around her. With her eyes closed Prim was still herself, and she was still normal. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew that Ash wasn't going to like it. He wasn't going to like what happened in the Hunger Games on camera and he wasn't going to like the fact that she was needy now. More needy than ever. He hated needy girls...

There was a slight click on the trunk outside the tree and Prim found herself smiling. He was back.

First, he touched her shoulder and then she felt his knees against hers. It wasn't in anyway the idea of them becoming a couple. It was how she knew he was there. It gave her reassurance of who exactly it was and when he wrote out his name on the back of her hand letter by letter she knew it was him and that it was safe to speak. "Did you have a fun time?" Her voice was in a low whisper and could barely be heard beyond the walls made by the tree's trunk.

"Not particularly. I was doing some...searching while I was planting evidence and found out that the last career boy is traveling alone. The girl is dead." Lucas sighed rubbing the bridge of his nose smearing the camouflage they had worked so hard on. It was caked on pretty thickly, and every time they added a layer it got worse. The thinnest part was over the wounds on their arms which they cleaned as regularly as possible under their conditions. They had ditched their watches long ago which they had used as their first clue when they first ran off. So the news was brand new. Unfortunately, their list had been lost as well though it wasn't hard to figure out who was left. That wasn't what was worry Prim in any way at all.

"Lucas, you're not supposed to be going after the tributes," Prim hissed and Lucas sighed knowing this was going to be the reaction even if they needed the information. It added to the stability of their plan. Prim wasn't looking for a plan though. She was looking for both of them to survive. There was only so much precaution they could take to stay safe. Even with the silencer on Lucas' gun now, even when he only used it in dire emergencies. It didn't matter. They had to take every chance like their last. Every choice meant life or death.

"Prim, we can use this to our advantage. All we have to do is lead the man alone this way. We lie outside that door shoot him down and the door opens. Easy." There was that word. Lucas had been using it a lot over the last couple days and Prim was sick of it. It wasn't easy. Death wasn't easy. Killing someone took a toll. It took a toll on all of the family members of the victim and it took a toll on the killer. Prim knew that almost better than anyone. The only person that new better was Katniss, her mother. Dreams still caught of with Katniss. They caught up and they choked screams out of her until Prim had to wake her from the dreams and get her to stop because her father couldn't take anymore. He couldn't stand hearing his love in pain. He simply left the house and didn't come back till morning as if he couldn't face it.

Katniss claimed that she didn't need to be woken. She had to face the dreams. She admitted to being scared, but she never admitted to giving in to fear. She had to face them because she had to finally take on those people who she had killed. So, how many years had she gone facing them? Before Prim became brave enough to leave her bed and help her mother, how long had Katniss laid there and just screamed having told Peeta the same thing and he listened and left her be?

Prim remembered hearing her screams. The first one scared her every time because it split through the night like a bolt. Peeta said when Prim was a baby it was the only time she cried. When she was old enough to remember she could see herself lying in bed. She stared at the wall and waited. Clutching a ratty old toy cat her mother had attempted to sew when she was little, her mom had called it Buttercup, until that first scream. Then she would clap her hands over her ears and she would pray to no one and everything. She wished on every start in the night sky around District 12 that it would just stop! Just let her mommy be okay the next morning. Let her be herself. Let her be that strong person she always pretended to be...

"It's not easy," Prim whispered and Lucas knew he had struck that chord again. He didn't mean to. He had always been used to talking to his father who just nodded and smiled as if he understood all the problems in the world and then found a new one that he hadn't quite figured out yet.

"I'm sorry Prim..." Lucas looked down and still used his hand to trace the letters to spell out 'sorry' on the back of her hand. When she moved that hand and touched his face he looked up at her. For a moment he waited for her eyes to focus, but then he let the hope go. She wasn't going to be the same. She used her thumb swiping away the dirt on his cheeks as if he could see the way she was cleaning his face. His skin was exposed slowly and Prim found herself searching for his lips with her fingertips. Once she did she was sure she would apologize and pretend it never happened by starting a new conversation. Surprise hit when Lucas shifted and she knew what was about to happen. He used his own fingertips to gently move the dirt from her chapped lips. When he moved forward to kiss her she let him until the very last moment when she turned her head away closing her eyes. He stopped and scooped up her hand with his own. "The cameras aren't on anymore. He won't see this."

"I know..." she breathed and took a moment to swallow that feeling of hope for his kiss. She swallowed that feeling and the lump in her throat that had dripped together with the pain of letting him down.

"Okay Prim," he smiled even though she couldn't see it. She was faithful to Ash and Lucas would respect that. If he ever did get a chance he hoped to get the same reaction. He hoped Prim would be as dedicated to him as to Ash. That didn't mean Lucas like Ash at all. Ash was using her. It was clear by the way he reached for her body and pulled it closer as if they weren't already pressed together. Their relationship was physical and Lucas could see that. Why couldn't she see that?

The sun started to set outside and Lucas sighed. "We should get some shut eye." Lucas muttered and curled up on the ground nearest to the trunk so that his back was against a solid part of the walls. Prim searched for him and curled up next to him for the body heat. This was also something they had started to deal with. With there only being five left they temperatures were starting to differentiate wildly. At night it dropped into the thirties sending most of the animals into hiding which meant most of the chances of game. They had to get out soon, or they would run out of food.

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><p>Gale and Katniss were being led by peace keepers forcefully to the train station. President Markkus was waiting patiently on the train platform. He had his hands behind his back using one to hold the other's wrist. Though Katniss and Gale's hands weren't cuffed there was an obvious urgency to their escorts steps and their ranks were in such a way that there was no escape. They were shoved to stand next to President Markkus with Gale on his left and Katniss on his right as if to make fun of her.<p>

"After this," the President muttered through gritted teeth so that he could continue to smile for the camera, "you'll get on the train."

"We're supposed to be here as mentors," Gale hissed not bothering to smile to the cameras. He was rarely ever caught with a smile on his face on camera. "We're not leaving until our kids are out of the games."

President Markkus didn't answer them directly but faced the cameras full on putting on a grim look. "After a small malfunction with our trackers in the arena since the technology hasn't been used since the past game we some how lost two of our tributes in the arena: Primrose Mellark from District 12 and Lucas Hawthorne from District 2. I am sad to say that our Game Keeper has used a small rogue camera and tracked down the bodies of these two tributes incinerated by another explosion in the arena that they set off. So we send home two of our mentors today with heavy hearts and keep them in our minds as they go through this hard time with their families." President Mellark turned and hugged Gale first and then he hugged Katniss. "I'm sorry for your lost Mrs. Mellark. We'll send you the ashes of your daughter as soon as possible." The two were immediately loaded onto the train and as they pulled away from the station President Markkus waved with a single tear rolling down his cheek.

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><p>The next morning Prim woke up in Ash's arms. They were lying in their spot on top of his flat topped house. He had spent so much time brushing off all the coal dust that he was so proud of it, but that wasn't what he was focusing on now. He was holding Prim under the blankets they had pulled up there. Nothing had happened, nothing serious at least. He held her as if something had though. She curled into his warmth desperate for his life that was so sure of itself. He was always so sure of his self. He wasn't scared of anything. She envied him so.<p>

She opened her eyes and could see! She could see Ash's beautiful face looking at her so comfortably as if she were the most beautiful sight he had ever seen and she was all his. He caressed her face and when his chest lifted with breath her heart fluttered. When he kissed her a smile lit her features along with the red of a bashful blush. He worked so hard to get that kind of reaction out of her and would do almost anything to get it. Sometimes it made her angry beyond belief, but other times it was sweet and enduring.

How did she get there? How did life become to perfect? Had they gotten out?

She had probably forgotten a lot of things after the surgeries to fix her up. Of course her parents would pay for those kinds of things. She was perfect again. she had vision and for once she was Prim again. How had they gotten out? Who cared? She was safe again back in District 12. When she went home Prim would see her family. See them! They would hug her and ask how her day went and she would complain about the same old things because those same old things were all District 12 had to offer. Prim loved them all though.

Lucas was probably back in District 2 he had probably proven himself worth and was going to the Peace Keepers Academy and meeting some girl that would be his special someone. Yea... He would have his own person to love and grow up with. Prim was...happy for him. Maybe she'd even get to see him again. How good would that be? They could have their families see each other and all would be good. They would be happy. All of them.

"Prim... Prim..." Then the dream was gone. She was being shaken awake and it was Lucas who was waking her. She wasn't in Ash's arms and the breathing hadn't been Ash's. Prim, while dreaming, had spent that whole time with Lucas while she dreamed away. Reality hit Prim when she opened her eyes and the world was a blur once more. At first, she thought she would cry and then she thought better. She searched for Luke in the minimal light and found him crouching near the doorway that led back out into the craziness of the arena. His silhouette was dark and mostly just a blob with blurred edges. "The boy career is out by a mile. I've got clues lined up to lead him here. Come on." Prim crawled over to him and found his waist band where she latched her fingers around a belt loop for him to lead her out to their spots.

Prim laid down first and let Lucas fix up the camouflage. "Close your eyes," he breathed and she listened. He covered her lips carefully and her eyelids. "Don't move." Prim did as she was told and went perfectly still as he finished by covering her up with some of the brush. Lucas fixed his own camouflage and drew his gun. He covered his lower half and some of his clothes with some vines and leaves from some of the other plants around, but chances were they couldn't be seen. Lucas positioned his gun just so that when the boy walked up it would take one quick shot. Then all would be over with.

They waited for what seemed like hours and then the boy walked up. Lucas was about to pull the trigger when a throwing knife came out of nowhere and pierced the boys chest. A cannon went off and then there were a few moments of dead silence before a voice broke the air:

"Owen has been tracking them for days. We just have to pick up where he left off now." Lucas pushed his gun under the brush with a silent move and waited patiently only hoping that Prim made sure not to move as well. The boy that had killed Owen was talking so confidently that Lucas was in no mood to try and take him and whoever he was talking to down.

"I don't know Linus, maybe he's just insane. I mean, it looks like he's the only person that's been through here and there's a giant triangle carved into that tree.

Lucas hoped and hoped for them to leave he just needed the hoover bike to come through. That's all he needed.

"We'll see Odessa. Come on," the boy motioned to the girl and led her over to the body where they searched him for weapons. Odessa pulled the bow and arrows from Owen's body. Odessa grabbed Linus' hand and smiled weakly. "We'll head back to where he came from," Linus told her. "We'll find the last clue he had on the two and work from there." Odessa nodded no matter if she agreed or not and the two walked off through the path Owen had so messily made on his way through.

Lucas grabbed Prim's forearm as soon as everyone was cleared out. When the door opened Lucas pushed Prim in first and then himself as the hoover bike passed over them. As the door sealed the floor lowered from being at the sharp angle of a ramp until it was parallel with the floor. Lucas used his hold on Prim to pull her to her feet and the two of them ran for the nearest doorway. When they made it into the doorway they were brought into a supply room stocked with toilet paper and other things.

"Lucas?" Prim asked as she sat against the door with one hand on the door behind her and one hand on the floor as if she would be able to tell when someone walked up. "What do we do first?" She wondered as he dug around the supply room desperately. When he found what he was looking for her cleared out the spot and moved the shelf though he wasn't being very quiet about it.

"We're going to go through the vents," Lucas said calmly as he tucked his gun back into the waistline of his pants.

"Where to?" Prim asked as her heart pounded. There were so many people walking through the hallway and she was just trying to look out for the one person headed to their door.

"The mentor's room. It's got to be in here somewhere." Lucas got the vent open and touched Prim's knee. "Let's go."

"You have to go first."

"I have to close the vent door." Lucas told her and then got her to climb through first and into the vents. Lucas closed the vent behind them as best as possible before he followed Prim into the vents. "If you press against the far wall I think I might be able to move past you." Prim nodded and moved close to the left side wall. Lucas carefully slid past her and moved on forward with Prim following close behind him just by the sound of his movement.

They were in those vents for hours just going to dead ends and then turning to a different way. There was always this maze like quality to every turn that made you feel like you would lost forever. The maze had to end eventually and when it did Lucas laid down outside the vent that led into the stuffy little mentor's room. He listened as a women came in that was obviously capitol that it made Lucas feel sick. She broke the news to the mother who seemed to be an only mother of the death of her son. She talked about if the women would just follow her they would show here Owen's body and she could head home to start making arrangements for the service. Even when they were gone Lucas sat there to watch and see if anyone would walk in or out of the room. Maybe they would walk in and then they could get some help. Maybe, maybe...maybe.

Lucas turned away and was crawling down the direction they came when Prim came from the wing he had left her in and touched his calf. "Lucas, what are we doing here?" Prim demanded making sure to keep her voice down.

"We came to get our parent's help," Lucas muttered and started to crawl farther with Prim on his heels.

"Are they going to help?" Prim whispered with hope. They were going to meet them, right? They were finally going to have some way to clean up and get out of here, finally.

"They aren't here."

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><p><strong>A voice crackles on over the speakers within the innards below the arena of the 76th Hunger Games: <strong>_**ATTENTION ALL CAPITOL MEMBERS IN THE ARENA THERE ARE INTRUDERS IN THE ARENA. REPEAT! THERE ARE INTRUDERS IN THE ARENA! ALL PEACE KEEPERS ARE ORDERED TO REPORT TO THE GAME KEEPER NOW! THIS IS CODE YELLOW! CODE YELLOW! **_


	14. Chapter 14

**Hello all this is actually wisegirlindisguise because this part of the story is off the government's record since our character are "dead." I hope you like reading. Enjoy. **

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><p>Lucas was lowering Prim down to the floor from the vents which they had spent most of their time in over the day, but nightfall was approaching so all of the people were headed to bed which meant they had a better chance of sneaking around. As soon as she was on the ground Lucas settled in to lie in the vent until Prim was done. Lucas closed his eyes willing himself to take a nap while he waited.<p>

"Lucas, Lucas!" Lucas jolted awake and passed down Prim's new clothes. He made sure not to look at her when he did and then he continued to wait until she was fully dressed. "Okay, Lucas, come down and help." Lucas stirred slowly and then slipped his feet through where the vent had been and dropped down into the shower room heavily with his clothes tucked under his arm. Prim looked almost messy though she seemed to have really tried to dress on her own. Lucas chuckled and walked up to her. "Shower first," she told him smiling calmly as if they weren't in mortal peril at that very moment, "you're a mess."

Lucas rolled his eyes for his benefit purely but he agreed and had her leave the room as he turned the water on for one of the shower heads in the washroom. As steam built up around it he practically disappeared in the water that pushed all the camouflage work he had done from his skin. After minutes of scrubbing his skin he was no longer green. He had dark hair again and he was himself for the first time in weeks. He peeled off the dirty clothes as soon as they had been washed of all the muck and draped them over a bar bolted into the wall.

When the water was turned off Lucas gathered the new outfit he would be wearing. Lucas pulled on the white uniform of a Peace Keeper and left off the hat as he walked over to Prim who was seated silently in the locker room with her legs crossed. She was completely done up in Capitol couture which made him feel queasy. "You look like a Peace Keeper," Prim noted as she looked at his blurred silhouette standing in front of her.

"You almost look like a Capitol citizen," Lucas wasn't sure if it was a compliment or an insult, but she would pass for a capitol woman easily. She had managed the contacts and her eyes made his head spin. She looked nothing like herself. When Lucas helped her put on a white wig and he smiled weakly. There was no more Prim.

She had really long white hair that reached easily to the back of her thighs with only a simply band over the top of her hair separating the back of her hair from the bangs that shortened her face since the bangs touched her eyelashes when she blinked. Her eyes irises were made completely black by contacts except for little embellishments of stars. The right contact had a moon that would change faces every time she blinked until there was no moon and it slowly came back. She had on a sparkly silver dress that poofed out at the hips and was wearing a fiery red coat over it that had pleats like a skirt around the bottom. gold tight covered what parts of her legs one could see but most of her legs were enveloped by lace up boots that went up to her knees and laced up the whole way.

"Help?" Prim asked sticking out one her legs. Lucas agreed and knelt in front of her starting to lace up the whole boot. This was all he could really do. They were really just hoping that they could get off without beautifying her nails and doing any makeup. It all just depended on who they ran into. When Lucas finished he sighed. "Ready to go?" Prim wondered as she got to her feet moving around experimentally in the heels.

Lucas pulled on the Peace Keeper's helmet and thread his arm through hers. "As I'll ever be." Together they walked out into the hallway where everything was bustling with activity. Peace Keepers moved desperately around with blank stares as if they didn't understand what was going on the. The avoxes moved about as well though they kept their eyes cast down following orders without any complaint. Some of the more obvious Capitol citizens had clipboards or touchscreens that they worked away on as they went jabbering to the unfortunate Peace Keeper who was kept in tow. They fit in quite well actually. This would work.

That was until they saw Leera. Her tattoos were unmistakable and unfortunately the first person she recognized was Lucas. Her eyes widened for a moment and she quickened her steps sending the loose fitting top she was wearing askew. "May I borrow this Peace Keeper? I need some help." Leera asked as she got to him grabbing his arm. At least Prim wasn't recognizable.

"No, I need him." Prim kept her voice down though she didn't try to disguise it. For the sake of keeping up the hoax she started to speak louder winking to Leera. "I could NOT find my stylist this morning and all I have is this Peace Keeper who is a positively atrocious makeup artist." Prim let go of Lucas' arm and took a step away as if she were disgusted by him.

Leera smiled taking her arm. "It is my job. I'd be happy to help." Lucas followed after them with head hung like an escort as the two girls bubbled on about petty things. When they made it to Leera's assigned quarters Prim got to sit down on her bed and relax. She closed her eyes sighing with relief. "Like I said," Leera smiled at Lucas pulling his helmet right off his head and set it on her vanity, "it's my job. Lucas, sit." Lucas took a seat at her vanity surprised that there was so much makeup sitting around just on its surface. "You first Lucas."

Leera grabbed some of the makeup brushes and few prosthetic pieces that she used to change his facial structure slightly. She blended the edges carefully and then pulled an airbrush gun that she filled with a pale makeup. "I'm gonna make you pale so that people don't recognize you." Leera said it so casually as if she used the tools of torture every day. As Lucas thought about it she probably did. When she was done smiled proudly and put a little bit of gel in his hair to slick it back. "Now you look like a Peace Keeper that survived the war."

Lucas had seen those guys around. They never got the really big security jobs because they had a history of PTS (post traumatic stress). He was sure there would be some around the arena though because they had been around as followers of President Snow. President Markkus probably trusted them more than the rest of the Peace Keepers the academy was cranking out now on a yearly basis. When Lucas looked at the mirror he frowned. He did look like those men. His face looked washed out as if shock had never cleared from their system. There was a scar carved on his cheek that looked like a battle wound. No one would recognize him.

"Okay, Prim your turn," Leera ushered Lucas out of the seat and then got Prim to sit down at the vanity. She looked at Prim just watching her for a moment. "Where did you get all of this stuff to play dress up in?" Leera wondered as she began to draw eyeliner on around Prim's eyes.

Lucas answered for her, "We've been crawling around in the air ducts for a really long time, two days I think, and we found one of the rooms for a capitol citizens and Peace Keepers room. We pulled together what we could."

"You guys did really well." Leera praised them for their choices especially Lucas who had worked on image with only one set of eyes and the eyes being male eyes. No offense. She continued to do makeup until Prim had darker skin than usual and her eyes stuck out against the, now curled, white hair. "So what was your plan after you got into the behind the scene's of the Hunger Games?"

"We were actually planning on getting help from our parents to get out of here." Prim admitted as she stayed seated at the vanity. She faced Leera's and Lucas' general direction with her legs crossed comfortably.

"Well, your parents aren't in town Primrose." Lucas looked over at Leera confused with a cocked eyebrow. Prim also turned to her searching for her face in the blur that she couldn't get used to. "As of yesterday, the people of Panem think you two are dead. Plus, everyone walking around here is freaking out because President Markkus has decided he is Game Keeper." Leera sighed setting down the makeup brushes in the vanity drawer and closing it a little too harshly. "That's why I'm still here. They want to 'keep an eye on me.'" It was Leera's turn to roll her eyes as she finally sat down on her bed relaxing in her tight black jeans that hugged her body without being extremely uncomfortable.

"They're not going to arrest you, are they?" Prim asked worriedly.

"I'm not sure Primrose. I've been playing it off as if I was raised by air headed capitol folk from before the revolution. That way I was just trying to copy it instead of actually having rebellious acts. So, I should be fine for now." Prim nodded as if she would accept the answer for the time being. She would definitely want to know more later.

"What happened to the last Game Keeper?" Lucas asked putting his elbow on his knees as he leaned forward from his seat.

"Arrested. President Markkus is trying to work it out so that she is shipped back to her home district for a public hanging." Leera closed her eyes as if the reality would go away. She had known Iris her whole life because they were both District 4 natives. They had spent their time there as free divers until they decided they could do more in the Capitol. Unfortunately, once they got to the Capitol they started to drift away from each other. "She tried to help you guys, and now she's getting punished for it."

"Help us?" Lucas asked looked at Leera with a mix of utter confusion and anger. Leera nodded. "This woman, whoever the hell she is, did not help us." Lucas stood just so that he could walk around. When Leera tried to speak up Lucas blew up. "She did nothing but make it worse. We could've handled ourselves! If she'd leave a damn chink in the armor or did blow every thing up in our faces then we would be home free by now!" Prim looked down at her hands with his choice of words. She shook her head slowly wishing somehow her hearing had been the one to go instead of her vision. "She teased us! She opened a door and then as soon as we got close enough she threw it in our faces!"

Leera stood jabbing a finger at Lucas as if it would make him second guess his words. "She showed you a way out!"

"She hurt Prim!" That sent Leera back into her seat, sitting silently. Prim looked up at Lucas with the change in his tone though there was still this raw power that made the strongest of Peace Keepers shudder. "That is crossing the line and if she was trying to help anyone she should've stayed out of the Games. She should've never agreed."

No matter the severity of the conversation, with the tension choking their throats, Leera chuckled. Lucas was ready to throw a punch at her just to make her shut up. He didn't care if Prim liked her or not. It was obvious to him that she was not on their side. Leera looked up at Lucas searching his eyes for some spare sympathy. "You think we have a choice?" Leera waited for him to say something, to dig up that gall he had so openly expressed only moments before. "Just like all the districts we're require to do something. For some of the people that have hearts, they have to sit there and watch. I have to meet every person that goes through. I meet every tribute Lucas. For people like Prim and you, I make friends. Mentors made friends at the old games and sometimes escorts did. Then we send you off to die because we don't have a choice! Cinna died to make a point when Katniss Everdeen was in the Games. We all have things we're supposed to do Lucas! Markkus took all of the revolutionaries in the Capitol and forced them to send twenty-six kids off to their death! If we don't we die. People with families will do anything to keep them safe. We all do what we have to do."

"Then do something," Lucas grabbed Leera's shoulders kneeling in front of her. "We'll got get your friend and then we'll get out of here." Lucas gave a lopsided grin and moved the hair from her face tucking it behind her ears. "We have to get moving though. If we sit around long enough. They'll figure it out." Lucas walked over to Prim touching her shoulder. She seemed to come back to life looking up at him with a smile. Leera stood though her features seemed too tired to even attempt a smile. There was so much going on. Where Prim found the energy, Leera had no idea. "Let's go," Lucas smirked and let Leera take over his spot at Prim's arm and the three of them walked out with a renewed need to regain their dignity.

The way they walked on their way no one would ever guess where they were going. To their deaths? No, the girls spoke so loudly and turned to the man behind them as if he would give some sort of input on the conversation. He would smile or chuckle at their trivial conversations. To put themselves in more danger? No, their heads were held to high! There was no need to think that they were anything lower than royalty with the way they held their own. To the holding cells? Never, they were high class. Why would any person at their level need to go to the holding cells? Well, why did any good person go anywhere that had grime and call themselves the lower side? Same reason any person would: they had shit to do.

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><p><strong>What will happen, what will happen? Tsk, tsk, tsk... You'll have to stick around. Catch you later. ;) <strong>

**Sincerely,**

**wisegirlindisguise. **


	15. Chapter 15

**This chapter is a little shorter than usual. I'm very sorry. It's still just me because once again this is off the record. Well, it won't be for long. Everyone will now what happened :)**

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><p>Katniss pushed open the door to her home which seemed a strange place without her daughter greeting her casually to bring her into the life of the home. This wasn't home without her.<p>

No one was there so Katniss dropped off her bags and headed into town towards her husbands bakery where she was sure they would be. When she got there the store was closed, yet the door was unlocked which allowed her inside easily. Gavin was sitting at one of the small tables with a biscuit that he tore chunks off of silently. Peeta was cleaning off the counter next to the cash register though it was a heartless act. They had no life whatsoever.

"Peeta?" Katniss spoke up and his head snapped up to look at her. "Why don't you have the Games on?"

Peeta walked from behind the counter using the rag to wipe his own hands. He then casually threw it over his shoulder and walked to her hugging her tightly. "Who are you? A Peace Keeper?" He whispered in her ear refusing to let go of her. Gavin ran into them as he hugged their legs desperate for his mom's touch that had been absent so long. "There's nothing to watch anyways. There's only two left and they're just living as if the arena is their home. They start work on building a permanent shelter yesterday."

Peeta finally let go of her and Katniss picked up Gavin no matter his age. He clung to her squeezing her neck. Peeta headed back for the kitchen where he worked on pulling some of the loaves from the oven. The clang of the pan against the counter made Gavin jump in her arms and she rubbed his back carefully to settle him back down.

"She's alive." Katniss said it so suddenly that Peeta looked at her as if it were a cruel joke. She didn't back down though. Why would she joke about it? "I saw them when they cut the trackers out of their arms. They got away and President Markkus said they were dead so that he could send Gale and I home." Peeta's astonishment melted away and then he let his face fall as he though about it. Katniss set Gavin on the counter nearest her and moved closer to Peeta taking both of his hands in hers. "She's okay Peeta. She's on her own now, but Lucas will get her out. We'll see her again." Katniss got on her tiptoes kissing Peeta as if to seal the deal like the day they got married. Unfortunately, Peeta couldn't find that same hope for Prim.

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><p>Lucas now had Prim's hand as they walked while Leera skipped along into the holding cell hallway as if nothing was happening. Lucas had taken the place of the guard for the hall and was now pretending to flirt with Prim who was being a lovely Capitol citizen named Malia. Lucas had her cornered against the wall with her ducking her head bashfully. "How are we going to get out of here once we get this girl?" Prim wondered touching her hand to his chest as if she wasn't sure if she should push him away or bring him closer.<p>

"I was thinking, in a place this big, it's got to have a couple thousand emergency exits and the Game Keeper, or past one, knows all the ways out. Maybe there's one without an alarm." Lucas touched her face carefully as if his touch would scare her away. "We've been all through those vents and there was no way out through there. We just have to get out of the arena now." Prim giggled as someone walked by and they faced them for a second before rolling their eyes and continuing to walk as if nothing had happened.

"I guess we have to actually talk to this girl then?" Prim muttered suddenly deflated. This wasn't something she was particularly looking forward to. In her eyes this was still the girl that had blinded her so cruelly. With her mothers temper it was easy believe that there were moments that Prim wished this women dead.

She couldn't feel that way much longer though. When Prim and Lucas were called back into the hall by Leera they came face to face with Iris: a seventeen year old girl that in no way looked like she belonged in the capitol. She had on loose fitting jeans and a black v-neck that hugged her figure. Her hair was pulled up into a ponytail and her eyes were the most normal of browns you would ever see. She was a normal girl just like Prim. "Thank you guys for coming to get me," she smiled and her eyes twinkled with the smile as Leera waited for the tension to dissolve from Lucas and Prim's side of the exchange. Lucas grudge was all but forgotten. Prim didn't have to worry about the girl's looks getting to her. She did seem to understand the innocence in her voice though and she cut her some slack.

"We need a way out," Prim snapped. Okay, so there wasn't that much slack to give her. "Are there any ways without an alarm?"

"No, every emergency exit has an alarm and a guard. The only way that doesn't is the main way and they have tons of guards up there." Iris sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose realizing who the girl was even under the makeup as soon as she had spoken.

"I can take out the guard," Lucas put a hand on Prim's shoulder and she relaxed slightly at his touch. "Then we just have to disable to alarm somehow."

"You can't. The alarms are controlled all through the Game Keeper's room. It's the main control center. It has everything." Iris started to pace in the hallway as if it required hard thinking though no one could pin what exactly she was trying to think about. "We aren't actually all that far from District 13," Iris suddenly said looking at her group. "I know Prim and Lucas are in shape. I still go diving and swimming every now and then. Leera?" Leera nodded as if she was telling everyone she was still in shape, or she hoped she was. "If we can move fast enough maybe we could make it District 13."

"We'd have to set off the alarm first," Prim reminded everyone. For a moment it sent all the plans into shambles. Everyone looked at each other and continued to stare as if it would change anything.

That's when everything happened all at once. Lucas had been about to tell her that it would be worth it to at least try and then the people of District 13 would protect them when a Peace Keeper poked his head down the hall. "Hey you! You're supposed to be in the cell!" Lucas whipped around pulling his gun and fire then and there. It his a citizen's arm out in the hall and she fell to the ground screaming. The Peace Keeper was gone though.

"Where's the nearest exit?" Lucas demanded grabbing Prim's hand and leading their whole group down the hall.

"Twenty yards down this hall. Leads up and out, but it's a lot of stairs."

Lucas ignored Iris after that as the four of them ran for the exit. While Lucas and Iris managed to run at full speed, Leera and Prim struggled in their heels. Eventually, Leera hooked off her heels and tossed them to the floor to continue running along with her group breaking closer to the front next to Lucas who finally picked Prim up right off her feet and ran with her on his back and her clinging to his neck. She was now the hindrance where she had tried not to be the whole time. She wished so desperately that she could still be in the arena so that Lucas could be long gone by the time the Peace Keepers got close.

The ones that were smart enough to realize they needed to be faster had taken the hover bikes and were speeding towards them crazily. Lucas broke through the exit door and the alarms started to ring. Unfortuantely, as an add to all security systems once an emergency exit door was opened and the alarms went off they stayed open so that any other people could continue to file out and not be slammed against the door. The four of them hurried up the stairs as fast as possible taking the stairs two or three at a time. They continued straight up without any break and soon their legs started to demand a break. Luckily, the hover bikes had to be ditched a long way back because they couldn't fit through the doorway.

"Go! Go, go!" Lucas bellowed up at the front of the line as he spotted the door at the top. Iris slammed her hands against the bar and emerged out in the middle of almost a barren waste land. A mile away Lucas could see the woods where they would be able to hide better. "Run!" Lucas ordered not stopping to take in the scenery. They had to make it out there before anything could get to them which meant there was no time to stop. Dust kicked up around them where their feet fell and it became clear that they were the only people out there until dust moved in front of them. A wall of sand picked up in front of them and a sound, barely audible, entered the air. A hovercraft landed there in front of them. The first person to step out: President Markkus.

"Isn't this cute?" President Markkus chuckled and then looked over his shoulder at the hovercraft that was now shut down. "Boys," around ten men emerged from the hover craft and rounded their group together. Prim slid to the ground as she cuffed and led toward the hovercraft. The Peace Keeper leading Prim stopped in front of President Markkus and left her there as he helped round the other three into the hovercraft. Lucas pushed forward toward Prim angrily. They weren't leaving Prim and Markkus alone. He wouldn't let them. Lucas really didn't have a choice. There were at least four guys on him already and when the Peace Keeper left Prim there, there were suddenly five and he was forced into the hovercraft where the door sealed and left Prim out there.

President Markkus grabbed the wig Prim was wearing pulling it backwards off her head and letting it fall to the ground. "I told you I would own you Primrose Mellark."

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><p>Inside the hovercraft Lucas was being searched for weapons. When they reached the small of his back where his gun was he waited for it to be confiscated. When they said he was clear it shocked him. He had had his gun. He was sure of it. He had tucked it back into place when he had to pick up Prim so that they could all run. The girls were standing next to him looking at him expectantly as if he would have a plan. He didn't have a gun though. What would he fight with?<p>

_Bang! _A shot sounded and all the Peace Keepers turned toward the doors. They all rushed outside and suddenly many words went up at once. The one that Lucas caught was Prim's voice: "Move and I'll shoot you too! Let them out." The large door they had been led in through opened like a garage door and Lucas was able to see Prim with her wig stained red as it laid in a puddle of blood. President Markkus was dead.

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><p><strong>The shot heard around the world. We'll be headed back to the Capitol. Thank goodness. Maybe I'll finally go home to District 4 where I can see my family again. <strong>

**Lovingly,**

**Iris Jones**


	16. Chapter 16

**Hello all, wisegirlindisguise here. This story is beginning to draw to a close. There will be at least one more chapter and an epilogue. I can't decide if I want to do that all in the next post or in two different posts. We'll see how I feel about it. Enjoy this chapter as everything finally begins to slow. **

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><p>Primrose Mellark went back to the Capitol with Lucas, Iris, and Leera. They were her entourage which had armed themselves and disarmed the Peace Keepers. A few of them pledged their allegiance to Prim because they were never truly followers of Markkus who had threatened their lives. So she had help on the way back into the Capitol. The day that they arrived she demanded that they tell the citizens of Panem of an announcement. That way she could talk to everyone all at once. Immediately, they agreed and she walked out onto the stage as herself in front of all of Panem.<p>

"Citizens of Panem," Prim started looking blankly out over the crowd though her voice demanded attention, "President Markkus is dead." The people in the square around the stage began to bustle and Prim could hear their nonstop worry. She held up her hand and silence fell almost immediately. "I killed him." She sounded so confident even though everyone went up in roars and fits as if this was some terrible thing. "He is the reason the Hunger Games were brought back! He is the reason all of these children are dead!" No one was listening so Lucas stepped up. He had a shotgun in hand and he was able to cock it with one hand and he sent a shot into the air. Everyone in the square jumped and turned back to the stage. Lucas put his hand on Prim's shoulder and she was able to take a deep breath and think before she completely yelled at them. "He's the reason I am blind..." Prim pulled the microphone from it stand unsteadily and used Lucas' guidance to walk from behind the podium. "Please think about this People. My mother did not make the deciding factor though I will not point fingers. She agreed to President Coin's idea! Then she realized this wrong doing and now Coin is dead so that we can be free. Why would she ever want to put children through the things that she had to go through?

"My mother wakes up most nights with nightmares. She screams at the top of her lungs from the nightmares. I've listened to these screams night after night and no one can ever help her. I lost sleep over these games before I was even a part of them!" Everyone in the square seemed to consider that for a moment and they faced one another as if asking each other questions about the predicament. "I want to know why anyone would think this lowly of my mother after she fought for our freedom so that we could be our own people and have our own lives that didn't include endless punishment. It doesn't make any sense. And now I'm demanding that the 76th Hunger Games be ended and that we elect a new President with views on the world like us. Freedom."

One person cheered, and then ten. Suddenly the whole crowd was up in roaring cheers and Lucas smiled taking the microphone from Prim. "You did good," he whispered to her hugging her gently. It sent a smile onto her face that glowed confidently. "There's someone backstage who wants to see you," he muttered right in her ear and then motioned to Iris to help her. Prim went with her willingly as Lucas talked to the crowd about how he was going to go out to the arena and personally remove everyone there with a team of Peace Keepers.

When they made it back stage a boy was waiting there. He had dark hair and grey eyes like a classic Seam kid. His hands were shoved down deep in his pockets. Wasn't he supposed to rush forward and greet her? The special someone was supposed to be there for her weren't they?

"Who is it?" Prim asked Iris still holding onto her arm desperately afraid that this was some unfriendly soul who didn't like what she had done.

"Tell her your name," Iris demanded directing the question to this boy in the room.

"Ash,"

Prim let go of Iris's arm and shooed her away along with anyone else in the room. One Peace Keeper demanded that she stay to watch out for Prim. No matter if the Capitol was leaning toward her side there were still people out there. Prim only agreed to the one person. "Ash, I can't believe you're still here." Prim's smile grew and she stepped forward until she met Ash's hands but they weren't welcoming her in. They were keeping her at arms distance and she faded back a step. She wasn't supposed to get too close when he was like this.

"What the hell Prim?" Ash's rough voice caught her off guard and she found herself taking yet another step back. She looked to where his face should be. "You're gonna pretend to love me after you practically made out with him on national TV?" She was about to apologize when he spoke up again. "Will you look away from me? Your eyes are creeping me out." Prim's gaze dropped to her feet and she clenched her hands into fist as she attempted not to cry. When he touched her shoulders he apologized. "I'm sorry Baby-"

"Get away from me!" Prim pushed at his chest and tried to get away from him as tears began to tumble down her cheeks. All of the sudden there was another person in the room ripping Ash away from Prim. He held Prim close but not lovingly. It was protective almost creating a cage around her.

"Of course you would come to her rescue because you're just so damn perfect!" Ash charge toward the guy and the guy let go of Prim before punching Ash in the nose. When he continued to try and fight the guy, Ash received a hit with an elbow to the back of his neck sending him to the floor unconscious.

When the guy went back to Prim and touched her arm which was pulled to her chest she jumped almost clawing at him. "It's me. It's me," Lucas said pulling her in close to him and she melted into him sobbing. The Peace Keepers collected Ash and cuffed him to a chair in the room as Prim and Lucas were lead to a medical room where they were separated. "I'll be back for you," Lucas promised whispering the words to her as his nose was pressed to her forehead. Prim agreed and sat down on a medical table while Lucas vanished.

After the whole medical checkup her doctor sat down with her clasping her hands together. "This may sound like some cheesy movie Darling, but there is good news and there's bad news." Prim sighed setting her chin in one of her hands as she sat on the table in her regular clothes. She had already been allowed to change back into her clothes after having to wear a flimsy little dress for the examination. She didn't specify which news she would like to hear first so the doctor continued. "The damage to your eyes will never clear on its own even though it may seem like it improves because you get used to it." Prim nodded as if she understood but the doctor stopped her from giving in so easily. "What we can do is we can fix your vision but it won't be like how everyone else sees. It'll be a little bit like an adaptive vision choice. It will always be changing so that you can focus on things you're, eh, aiming at."

"A targeting system?" Prim asked and though the doctor avoided the word _yes _it was clear that it would have to be that way if she wanted her vision back. She wished she was joking around. Prim wished that doctor would laugh and say, "Just kidding!" It never came though. "I don't want it then." Prim got off of the table and went for the door. The doctor didn't try to stop her and she continued to walk. When she made it out Lucas was waiting. She took his arm immediately and they walked together toward the back of the building where they got into the back of a car just like the one they had arrived at the Capitol Building in. When Lucas asked her if she was going with him back to the arena she shook her head. "No, I'm going home."

Prim climbed into the train that day alone. The only people aboard with her were the Peace Keepers, Leera, and Iris. Even with them she felt alone though. She spent the ride in her room with her face covered by her hands just trying to find some peace inside her. Funny, with everything she had done she couldn't find that complete feeling of having done something great. The negatives seemed to trample the positives and she started to understand why her mother was the way she was. A person could spend their whole lives building their reputation. They could have been the best of people with great hearts! Their reputation could've been divine! Worthy of the heavens! Then one slip up, it could even be an accident, and then it was trampled. They were shoved to the ground and stomped on until the person was officially done with.

The train found its rest at the station in District 4 and Leera and Iris left. People were waiting with open arms. Their families most likely, they took them in so easily and the only person that stuck out was Leera with her tattoos. Even then, some of her family members had smaller tattoos. Then, as if they had never been apart of the Capitol or the Hunger Games at all, the train left them there and headed onward toward District 12.

Pulling in to District 12 the train came to a stop with finality as if it was never going to leave again. Prim knew that wasn't right though because the train would leave her there alone as soon as possible just like it had Leera and Iris. A Peace Keeper came to her room and finally coaxed her out of hiding and out of the train car into the sun. There were cameras were everywhere snapping pictures or recording the moment to show on a news special the next day. Someone was able to get a microphone in her face without warning so that the Peace Keeper couldn't stop them.

"What do you think your parents will say to your return?" The man demanded before shoving the mic back toward her face.

"I think they'll be happy to see me safe." Prim didn't say anymore than that and continued to push through until she almost ran into someone until the Peace Keeper stopped her forward motion.

"Why did you make this move against the Hunger Games and President Markkus?" Another reporter asked leaning over desperately for just a few words from Prim.

Prim stopped and for a moment everyone went quiet. No one ever stopped. Not even the attention seekers unless they were planning an announcement. "This was the human thing to do. If you can't understand that, then you're not human." Constant chatter began until Prim heard it muffled through a car door which took her out toward her house. District 12 citizens looked at the car and then looked away as if they already understood. The Peace Keepers of District 12 were forming a wall that blocked the road that went to the Mellark household and after proof that Prim was the one in the back they finally let the car through. When it parked Katniss and Peeta were waiting on the porch with Gavin just coming outside.

Prim stepped out of the car and Gavin flew off the porch with his arms open. He latched his arms around Prim's legs and began to sob as he tried to explain how much he missed her. Prim hugged him silently holding back the tears pretty well. Her heart swelled and it took several swallows to keep the tears back. Gavin finally took her hand and led her to the porch where Peeta hugged her next. He told his daughter that he was so proud of her and just stood there for a moment. Katniss ushered everyone inside as one of the of the Peace Keepers notified her of an intruder with a camera coming up the back way through their street.

As they got inside Katniss closed all the curtains. Prim took a deep breath in of all the smells around her. The smell of fresh bread and freshly cooked meat. The quiet was welcomed and the comforting feeling of her father's arm holding her protectively. When Katniss returned to the group she took Prim's hand at first letting her know it was her before Prim fell into her. She wrapped her arms around her mother and told her she was sorry, that now she understood.

"I missed you so much Primrose. I'm so proud of you." Prim almost wanted to hear these things and then dismissed it when they didn't come. Why would they? Prim knew she was proud but she also knew any other things would've been unacceptable because this was the human thing to do. The one thing Katniss did say to Prim was, "I love you Baby." For the first time ever, Prim cried in front of her mind with no regret.

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><p><strong>I hope you've liked my writings and I hope to hear from you even if you don't usually leave reviews. Thank you to those of you who do. You know who you are. <strong>

**Sincerely,**

**wisegirlindisguise**


	17. Chapter 17

**I put this last little bit and the epilogue together. Enjoy! **

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><p>The schools bell chimed and the day ended so drearily that it made Gavin's heart sink. He knew when he walked into the hall that Prim would not be there to walk him home like she usually did. He wasn't going home though. He was headed to his father's bakery farther in town which seemed to be the family business at that point since his mom's family seemed to have dispersed so widely it was nonexistent - every now and then Katniss would still speak of her sister or her father; her mother's life was all a secret. It really didn't bother Gavn either way. He never grew up with grandparents and didn't need them now.<p>

The next bell of his day was the bell on his father's shop. Willow, the German Shepherd, perked up from where he had been lying next to the cash register. In return, Prim perked up looking toward the door waiting for a friendly hello. "Hi Prim," Gavin said running through the front of the shop and setting his bag behind the counter.

"Come on Bud. You gonna help me out?" Prim asked picking him up quickly and setting him on the counter. Gavin nodded and Prim smiled as if she could see his answer. She already knew his answer though so there really was no need to say anything at all.

They settled in having multiple thumb wars and a few rounds of arm wrestling until their next customer walked in. The person was a regular and knew the drill so as she handed the dollar amount to Gavin she gave her order to Prim. So Prim took those requests and headed back into the kitchen leaving the customer there to scratch Willow's head.

When Prim was in the places she knew well she felt like she could act normal. The bakery was the one place Willow would actually allow her to move around alone since they had officially taken Willow in. Prim could move better in the tight corridors of the bakery without her seeing eye dog. Her father would hand her the box of pastries or bag of bread and then she would use one hand to carry it while her other hand glided over the tile of the small hall leading out of the kitchen. Gavin would take it from her and hand it to the customer and then the person would thank them and leave.

Prim sat down on a stool at the end of her routine with a hand on Willow head who relished at her touch. This was her life. It was slow. For the first few months, she really didn't mind at all. It was calming and gave her time to breathe. When her thoughts became dark it gave her time to regress into a dark spot where she could deal with them all by herself. Unfortunately, her life was calm and became old when she graduated from school only the end of last school year. She hadn't chosen what she was going to do exactly quiet yet, but she definitely had some ideas.

She had been starting to get some information about the connection center over in District 6 that handled emergency calls throughout all the districts which meant getting in touch with all districts. Then again she had a certain attraction to District 4 where she would be able to live on the water and swim more often then she did in the lake out in the woods. There were so many things she was going to consider though she was leaning toward District 4 where Iris and Leera were living supposedly happy.

The bell to the shop rang and Prim looked up as she always did to great to customers. They couldn't see her eyes though so it was more just a reaction. She wore dark sunglasses at all times now. There was something about Ash's words she couldn't shake and now she was just trying to keep everyone from looking away to avoid her vacant eyes. She was afraid that they would look at her and then flinch back or simply not meet her eyes because she could see that much.

"Can I help you?" Prim said in a hidden panic as the person whistled calling Willow who went willingly over to the person. She waited for Willow to return to her but her didn't and she could hear him panting as if he were being pet vigorously across his spine.

"Yes," Prim froze for a moment at the voice. It was definitely male and had a raspy quality to it. "I was actually wondering if I could talk to Peeta Mellark." Prim told him he was in the back and the man let himself by going back. She could barely hear their exchange and she strained to hear though she didn't catch many of the words at all. When he came back out to the front he leaned on the counter next to her. "So Primrose," she could hear the obvious smile in his voice as he spoke and he touched her elbow sending a chill of familiarity through her, "do you feel like taking the afternoon off so you can come hang out with me."

"Yea," Prim smiled warmly and turned to Gavin she touched his face and then kissed his forehead. "I'll see you at home later today Gavin. Bye Dad!" Prim called into the back of the bakery and heard his faint reply. The two left the bakery and headed around to the meadow where the main gates out into the woods were. That's when Prim turned to him with a huge smile and hugged him tightly. "What are you doing here Lucas?"

"Let's go out into the woods and we can talk about it." Lucas moved the hair from her face and then took her hand before he pushed open the gate and started to pull her out into the trees. His dad had told him about the spot and exactly where it was and explained how to get to it even though his dad could only give him the way around the valley in the woods. So that's the way he led her. She seemed to know the way honestly. She took careful steps and eventually they made it to the spot. Prim almost had no trouble. It was no surprise, she had been there so many times already.

It was surrounded by some stones and berry bushes, edible berries to snack on. It overlooked the valley and gave the perfect view without being seen by any wandering eyes. This was Gale's and Katniss' spot revived again. Prim and Lucas settled in and Prim noticed that Willow had been left behind when the dog's weight did not settle on her leg. She remembered her parents taking her out to this spot and how she and her mom had always strip the bushes of berries and continued to pop them in their mouths while her father would chase Gavin around in the woods. This had been their territory and as long as Prim had lived no one else had come out this far so they had the woods all to themselves.

"How have you been?" Prim asked taking his hand and squeezing it with intrigue.

"I've been good. Great in fact." Lucas began his story of the last year or so. He had spent a good chunk of it in the Capitol still sorting out many things. He helped some of the people accept the new president who looked forward to introducing final peace and expelling the Hunger Games finally. That's all the new generation could hope to do. They would keep the stadium though. The stadium would be a reminder to all of their terrible ways and how they must all reflect on the mistakes to improve. All other aspects would be destroyed including the written rules of the Hunger Games with weren't very long. All of them were burned. It was all something that the District rejoiced to. Lucas was proud to be a part of it and a helpful hand to the new person in charge.

"Oh," he added his smile growing, "I got accepted to the Peace Keeper's Academy." Prim congratulated him before he went into his excitement. He had been training for a few months at the Academy and now they were on break for a few weeks. Once he was done with the two years of training he was allowed to go anywhere to start his work in the field. They were giving him the choice.

"I guess that brings us to why you're here then." Prim settled back in her seat using her fingertips to search for the bulges of berries that she could wrap her fingers around and then her taste buds so that she could taste that tart bit on her tongue.

"I came to see how you were doing. You really dropped off the edge of the earth after the cameras left." Lucas chuckled and shoved her arm, "You always were like your mother though."

"Thank you," Prim laughed with him and they let their lingering tensions fall so that they could be completely be open with each other. "Well..." Prim started into her story about what had happened since that year had passed. While Lucas had been having a blast and traveling while doing what he loved Prim had been hanging back in the shadows. Her life had fallen apart because of the Hunger Games while Lucas' seemed to have put itself back together. She could no longer see and there had been no such improvement just as the doctor had told her. Technology had not yet advanced yet and the surgery would still leave her with a system of seeing rather than and crystal clear vision. Ash had yet to return to the district and she pretended as if she didn't care. However, she still caught herself thinking of him in a fond manner: the way he had touched her skin or kissed her lips, the way he claimed he loved her. All of that was water though, water she had cried many times over.

Then she smiled with the thought of District 4 and finally leaving District 12. "I've decided I'm going to go to District 4 and find a job. Maybe I'll stay at home or do some writing or something." The smile that Lucas saw on her lips was so pure and happiness lit her features for the first time he had met her. For first time, it was real happiness. "I think I'll do it you know? I think I might find a good home there." Prim found it so fascinating that she had finally chosen. Wondering was over! She was done with District 12 even if she visited. She would find a home on the water where she could dip her feet in the water that freed her every time.

Lucas moved closer to her and ran his thumb over the back of her hand which he still had a hold of. He slipped off her sunglasses annoyed with not being able to see the gorgeous blue eyes she had. His heart thumped and it seemed to get louder in his ears as if trying to drown out his thoughts. He wasn't really going to ask this kind of question was he? They met each other over some terrible fate. But wasn't any kind of fate, fate? It was worth it, maybe. If she said yes, it was worth it. "Can I come with you?" When it came out of his mouth it sounded worse he decided. This was the worst of things he could've said. Lucas was thinking at this point that if he had told her he needed to excuse himself to go take a dump in a hole it would've sounded better.

That's why surprise hit when she kissed him. Heat pushed through his system and after the initial shock passed he was able to wrap his arms around her protectively and pull her in closer until there was no space between their bodies. Ash faded from Prim's mind. Stupidity fled from Lucas' and it was just them. It wasn't even their minds, not really. They had their hearts, lust, and their touch which burned inside the viciously. Prim pulled away and laid her hand against his cheek.

"Yes."

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><p>On the beach in District 4 a little girl danced along the sand with bare feet and a white dress that seemed contradictory to the grey sky from the stormy day. "Baby, you're feet are all sandy now! Come on, we have to go!" Prim yelled from the door. Her vision was perfect now yet it adapted a little too well to the night time. Her hips were a little wider from pregnancy. She looks, other than that, the same.<p>

"Are we gong to get Daddy?" The girl yelled shooting across the sand toward the house where her mom scooped her off the ground. She slid her feet in the shoes Prim was trying to get on her feet after trying to brush off the sand.

"Yes we are," Prim chuckled as her little baby hopped in her arms happily clapping her hands together. Prim carried her bundle of joy to the car and strapped her in to the car seat in the back. "How bout you sing your little song while we go Annie?"

She agreed happily and began to sing: "We're going to get Daddy, Daddy, Daddy. We're going to get Daddy and bring him home."

They pulled up next to the square where a bus was sitting with men loading out. Peace Keepers had been deployed from district around Panem because of commotion in a shantytown past District 13. Lucas had gone as the leader of the group and they had been gone for weeks, but there he was climbing off the bus. The first thing he did was hug his baby girl and then he kissed his wife. She held back the tears as he held her face in his hand. "I love you Prim."

"I love you too," Prim whispered smiling widely.

"And you love Annie," their little girl squealed as they piled back into the car.

"Yes, we love Annie too." Lucas looked between his two girls and thought back on where they were only about ten years ago. Sometimes, though the Hunger Games left him with nightmares, he couldn't help but to find a bright side to them. This was, after all, the final results of the games.

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><p><strong>The end. Thank y'all for reading!<strong>

**Sincerely,**

**wisegirlindisguise**


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